Minister Simeon addressing the gathering at the launch of the training session on Saturday (Photo: Thomas Meriton)
The Institute of Early Childhood Development (IECD), in partnership with other sectors from Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), has started the 8th training session for a group of 47 childminders on Mahé.
They started with the pre-registration and sensitisation training sessions on the National Standards for Childminding Services last Saturday at the ICCS.
The aim of the training is to sensitise all practising and unregistered childminders on National Standards for Childminding Services, for eventual registration of their service. This is in accordance with the IECD Act, 2014, that stipulates a person “shall not operate a childminding establishment without a Certificate of Registration”.’
For the first time, the Minister for Education and Human Resource Development, Jeanne Simeon, attended and launched the training.
Minister Simeon stated that “today marks another milestones for IECD where standard implementation is concerned. The training programme for childminders is one of the requirements for standards compliance. In order to provide satisfactory service, childminders have to be au fait with the national standards which dictate the level of service delivery for early childhood care and education”.
The minister also recapped the programme. She said that following the announcement made by President Danny Faure in his State-of-the-nation address that parents of children enrolled in a registered childminding or daycare facility need no longer make an application with the Agency for Social Protection for financial assistance, “we have seen an exponential increase in the registration of childminders. The programme is to sensitise unregistered but practicing childminders on the use of a national standards following up with the registration and regulation processes. Through this training childminders will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement the national standards effectively and efficiently. It will assist them in their discharge of essential responsibilities as caregivers and to ensure that our young children entrusted to their care are protected and kept safe in an environment that is conducive and secure. Childminders have a very important role in the nurturing and developing of our young children and to ensure they have a good start in life. So the training from IECD is paramount”.
Marvel Simeon, monitoring & evaluation officer at IECD briefed the participants on the importance of such a training. “The aim of such a programme is to implement the National Standards in childminding practices and improve the quality of services. The objectives are to sensitize childminders on the National Standards; build capacity to implement the standards and prepare for the registration process. The participants also learned about: early learning, interaction, health, nutrition, child development, child rights and protection, safety, family and community engagement, physical environment, staffing, administration and childminding service agreement.”
The opening was followed by the first training session on health delivered by Monia Course, a senior public health officer from the department of health.
All sessions will be held at ICCS and will run from June 13 to August 22, 2020. They will be facilitated by professionals from different sectors and partner agencies. The participants will be equipped with knowledge and skills on how to provide a healthy, safe and stimulating environment where children can play and develop life skills in readiness for pre-school education.
To note since 2016, 214 childminders and 19 assistants have participated in the training programme and currently 81 childminders are officially registered with IECD.
In order to make these training happen, IECD works in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Family Affairs, department of health; Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency, Red Cross Society of Seychelles, department of local government and department of youth and sports.
Vidya Gappy – Nation.sc
