Tourism players to finance early childhood stimulation centre in Rose Hall – Bartlett
Published:Friday | October 14, 2022 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Players in the tourism industry will boost the education sector with a technology-driven early childhood stimulation centre, which is to be built along the ‘Elegant Corridor’ in Montego Bay, St James.
According to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who is also the member of parliament for St James East Central, the centre will be established in the Rose Hall area on lands near the John Rollins Success Primary School and the NAZ Children Centre.
Bartlett said that players in the tourism industry have committed to providing the financial resources needed to develop and operate the technology-driven early childhood stimulation centre.
“It’s going to be a fully private sector-driven development that the Ministry of Education would then manage and help to direct after it is completed. We have some partners that are willing to put forward funding for it, and within a year, we will have in Rose Hall, the first early childhood stimulation centre that will pay tribute to the work of Dr Marco Brown,” Bartlett continued.
When established, the facility will be geared towards detecting and managing ailments, such as cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities, ranging from sensory impairment, autism, Down’s syndrome, developmental delay, psychosocial deprivation, and co-morbid behavioural problems, including attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders.
Bartlett revealed that it will be a state-of-the-art facility that will be named the Dr Henry ‘Marco’ Brown Early Childhood Stimulation Centre, in honour of the late former councillor’s service to education, and in particular the early childhood sector.
While serving as the people’s representative, some of Dr Brown’s projects included the construction of several basic schools in the St James East Central constituency.
Bartlett said that the framework for the centre is already worked out and a team is to be set up to work on the finer details, including deciding on the actual location of the facility. He revealed that at least one of several basic schools built by the late parliamentarian and medical doctor is still in operation in the community of Paisley.
“In this my 20th year as a member of parliament, in another week or so I’m going to be establishing a team that will be creating the early childhood stimulation centre. We’ve already worked on the framework, we know the cost, and we have a team that is working on it,” Bartlett announced, while paying tribute to Brown at his thanksgiving service on Saturday.
“It is going to be a state-of-the-art early childhood stimulation centre without formal classrooms, because it’s all going to be virtually driven with high technology,” Bartlett told The Gleaner on Monday.
He pointed out that the whole idea is to develop a set of young people who are driven by the cognitive systems, where they are taught to convert ideas into practical applications.
“And that’s how you add value, that’s how you can innovate. You do not just learn and regurgitate, but you learn and apply the knowledge to practical circumstances,” Bartlett added.
When it becomes operational, Bartlett noted that the early childhood simulation centre will also be looking at broader concepts concerning not just the children, but their parents, so there’ll be a whole segment, including a simulation that will identify and facilitate the orderly development of gifted children.
Dr Brown was 92 at the time of his passing. He served as a councillor for the Rose Hall Division in the then St James Parish Council, and as member of parliament for St James Southern (1980-1989). He was appointed in 1981 as Jamaica’s first minister of state in the Ministry of Tourism.