The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development will on Monday October 17 conduct training for principals and teachers of primary schools to provide them with the strategies and processes for implementing child friendly practices.
The Child Friendly School (CFS) training session will take place at the Public Service Training Centre from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The CFS programme is intended to have students grow and acquire knowledge in safe environments which are conducive to learning.
During the training teachers will be instructed in ways to create a safe environment for their students by providing inclusive, learning-ready classrooms and promoting positive behavioral change. Participants will be provided with the skills and strategies needed to gain a deeper understanding of student behavior, learn how to conduct behaviour assessment and develop a plan to manage behavior.
The workshop aims to ensure that students emerge as kind, cooperative, respectful and peaceful.
The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNICEF, in 2009 piloted the CFS practices in ten Dominican primary schools in an effort to engender the development of students in a calmer school setting. The scale of the programme was increased to 24 schools in September 2011.
The CFS initiative promotes a child centred approach to learning and is aimed at high quality education for all. It focuses on behavioural management practices in classrooms, the creation of classrooms that are learning ready, healthy lifestyles and systems that encourage the participation of all children.
The programme is also aimed at promoting parental and community involvement in children’s learning.
This is very, very good news. In the school I teach in, there is too much beating of the children, shouting at them, and derogatory comments. Too little encouragement of the childs’ natural abilities.
Up to 60% of a childs’ intelligence comes from outside influences (this is a fact), and unless children are nurtured in the best way possible, that child will never reach his or her full potential.
Initiatives like this need to be Nationwide.