Basseterre: St. Kitts: Hands Across the Sea, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), launched a literacy focus initiative titled, Early Pages Programme on Wednesday, November 29. The ceremony, held on the Industrial Site Preschool compound, was attended by Mrs Lisa-Romayne Pistana, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Ms. Kimona Browne, Director, of the Early Childhood Development Unit (ECDU) and other stakeholders.
Mrs Eleanor Phillip, Hands Across the Sea Literacy Link – St. Kitts shared the objective.
“The programme aims to integrate and support literacy as an explicit aspect of the preschool programme thereby helping to raise literacy awareness among the children in our early childhood centres. The Early Pages Programme also provides opportunities for parents’ involvement.”
Mrs Phillip encouraged all stakeholders to make adequate use of the resources to promote and develop the literacy skills of the pre-schoolers.
“We are committed to working directly with our stakeholders – students, librarians, teachers, principals and the Ministry of Education to ensure that all students have access to libraries and literacy resources. I am therefore asking the director, resource teachers, ssupervisors, and teachers: to 1. Ensure that the children use the books. Please do not keep the books in boxes or on shelves as if they are on exhibition. 2. Encourage parents to borrow books to take home to read with or to their children. 3. Please keep records of the number of times the books are used. Insist that the teacher/s responsible for the books keep weekly book borrowing records. It is our hope that by reading to the children and having the children picture-read and tell their own stories they will raise their level of literacy.”
Hands Across the Sea, a non-profit Literacy Organisation was established in the Eastern Caribbean in 2007.