SEVENTEENTH COHSOD TO LAUNCH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION GUIDELINES

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown , Guyana ) One of the foci at the Seventeenth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) is the strengthening of the Early Childhood Care and Development sector in the Caribbean region by the introduction of regional guidelines for policy regulations and standards in the delivery of early childhood services.

The COHSOD, at its opening ceremony on 17 November, will launch the Regional Guidelines that will provide practical guidance to early childhood officers who are responsible for delivering quality early childhood development experience in the Region.

The Guidelines are intended to provide a roadmap that can be easily followed by anyone wishing to establish, review and/or strengthen policy and regulatory frameworks within the Early Childhood Care and Development sector. They begin with a discussion of the practical reasons for policy and regulatory frameworks. They then elaborate in detail on each reason, clarifying the main elements that need to be included in a policy and regulatory framework. The final section deals with the type of management and administrative structures that are needed to facilitate effective implementation of policies and regulations.

Slated for the Guyana International Convention Centre, Georgetown, under the theme, Accelerating the Implementation of the Education Agenda, the two-day COHSOD Meeting will also focus on several issues including functional cooperation in education; the development of cultural industries and its implications for the education sector; the implications of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) for education and importantly, an assessment of the achievements and implementation gaps in the regional education agenda.