Director of the ChildFund Caribbean Francis Joseph says children should be placed at the center of all development activities and programmes undertaken by the family.
“In the midst of the core of any child’s security is the family… the head of that family is the parents who are critical to the child’s development for learning, guidance, security, assurance, love, affection, education and communication. Key to all of this is the ability to communicate and to be literate,” he said.
Joseph was addressing a one-day Family Literacy Consultation which took place at the Public Service Union building this morning.
The consultation was organised by the Roving Caregivers Programme through its implementing agency ChildFund Caribbean.
Joseph said communication between parents and children in the home is key because “the home is the first and most important establish school or learning environment for the child, and the person who is responsible for that child education and guidance is the parents”.
He said the teachers alone are not responsible for the child’s education and upbringing.
Meantime General Secretary of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Sonia Williams, who also represented the minister of education declared the consultation opened.
She said family and literacy goes hand in hand.
“Families mould us and make us and it is through the family that we begin to learn. It is through family that our first step in literacy is taken,” she said.
According to Williams, a person who is not literate cannot function in today’s world.
“It is at this stage that we should see the link between the family and literacy. The family being the first teacher should be the one to enter us into the literate world. Mothers, Fathers and caregivers should be the first to read stories to their children and encourage children into the excitement of books,” she said.
An early investment in literacy is needed in Dominica.
– DNO Correspondent
The problem needs to be dealt with at its roots.
Fornication must be exposed for what it is.
Parents should be the prime teachers of morality and family values. But if the parents are not an example of what they teach the children will throw it back at them and do the opposite.
Our churches need to preach and teach the moral code God has given us in the New Testament not only in the Sunday sermon but in the Sunday School and the Youth Department. They must do it in a way that causes young women to respect themselves and realize no man should touch their bodies until he first puts a wedding ring on their finger and gives them his name.
Until there is a revival in the churches and a fresh emphasis on godliness an true holiness the epidemic of
premarital sex and extra marital sex will continue and nothing will change. Pastors it is time to preach and teach 1 Corinthians 6:9,10 and Galatians 5:19-21 to your people.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. International Evangelist.
Gary, I agree with you that the television has become the first teacher at home. Well, with development always comes a price. When we grew up without the televison, we did not have a choice but to be more apt to learning at school. We have strayed so much from the good old days that we have caused our own problems .I am in no way condemning television. Everything has to be done in moderation. It is the responsibilities of the parents to have schedules for their children. I have to do that for my own son. He can watch televison on week-ends but during the week he has to concentrate on school work. He is also engaged in after-school activities. We are responsible for these children and we have to create the path for them. It is not the responsibilties of the teachers to force them to read. Teachers are there to enhance the students but the parents have to play the main role. Teachers can only do so much.
It is all good to hear these sayings” The family is the first teacher” it makes good sound bite as Mr Joseph was saying and we all go “yeah” it is true, but at the end of the day are People really adhering to it’s true meaning and authenticity, I do not think so. It is time to get out of this old paradigm of believing the Governments and Teachers are responsible for Children Education, they just provide a vehicle and, an environment where children can go to learn, but in the end it is Parents who should be the ones to take responsibility for their Children Education and wealth fare.
Just listening this week to the Minister of Education Sonia Williams talking about students are reading below their grade level. I do not believe it is the Teachers or Government fault for that, here we have an
example of not being the first Teachers at home cultivating and Teaching the good habits of reading to
children at home where it should start. What I suspect is, Television has become The first Teacher at home. Finally it is not only listening to Mr Joseph words and saying “yeah ” that is true, it can only be true, if it is put into practice, do it for for the Children sake.
The home can be viewed as an informal educational institution.So , Mr Joseph is correct, Teaching begins at home.However in society today has many cases of unstable families, so the priniciples or values which are taught at home may not equate to those taught at school.
Well said, out of South City. We have such young crops growing up, especially from teenagers.
by the time the child is ready for school, they have to be living with Granny or some one else.
Most times theres no time for educational up bringing.
Theres a trend going on , when young teenage mothers get their first child, at that time they are not working to support, they have nerver work anywhere, the father does not play his role and then the young mother has to turn somewhere else for help. But help does not come without a payment.
Then ends up having a second, a third child. Those children grow up in the communities with little or no guidance and the children lives are messed up.
Education starts in the cradle and ends in the grave.
I totally agree that teaching starts at home but since there are so many homes that may be spearheaded by single parents, and some of the parents may not have a formal education themselves, are there provisions made for these parents to assist their children at home?
Also are there teenage-parenting classes in place so that these mothers-to be can be assisted in becoming the parents they ought to be?
We teach more by what we do than by what we say.
Teenage parenting classes to teach unwed teen mums to be a good example to their daughters are a year or more late in arriving.
An unmarried mother teaching her daughter to respect herself and remain chaste before marriage is like a bird with one wing trying to fly.
Single girls need to be taught at home, in church, and in school, that sex belongs in marriage between a husband and his wife NOT between mere acquaintances, friends with benefits, boyfriend and girlfriend, or even engaged couples. Sex outside of marriage is a sin the Bible calls fornication and it carries dire consequences not only for the individual but for the nation that tolerates it.
We need a moral revolution that will produce a generation of virtuous parents who have practiced abstinence before marriage and are examples able to teach their children.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. International Evangelist.