Georgetown : The Ministry of Education had introduced a revised entry age for nursery children. This commenced at the start of the school year, in September of 2014. Previously, a child had to be three years old by March 31, in order to enter Nursery School in September of the same year.
However, after many appeals from parents and intense consultations with head teachers and nursery teachers, and after noting the resources available to children, a policy decision was made to change the age for entrance into nursery schools.
This meant that 2,908 more children were able to access education in the public system. In 2014, 13,882 children enrolled in the nursery system.
Delivering the report on the performance of the sector for 2014, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, pointed out that access to education is at an all time high in the nursery sector. With more than 85% students enrolled in schools, this is the highest rating across the Commonwealth Caribbean. The new age for admission to nursery schools has ensured more students entering the system.
She, however, noted that based on figures from the General Register Office, it was evident that there were about 1,000 new births every month.
“We could have estimated that it would be about 3,000 more children added with the three – month period which we were allowing for,” she noted.
The end result, the minister said, is that the nursery system was able to receive children, who were more prepared in September than ever before.
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