In November 2022, to coincide with UNICEF’s World Children’s Day 2022, the PNCR/APNU unveiled for public comment an outline of its Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy. We said then that in designing our ECCE policy, we could not agree more with the observation that “To have strong healthy children, you need strong healthy families. To have strong healthy families, you need strong healthy parents.” So said the Opposition, People’s National Congress Reform/A Partnership of National Unity (PNCR/APNU) in a statement.
The opposition is promising when they form the next government its policy will confronts the fact that Guyana ranks poorly on several critical measures of infant/childhood and maternal health and well-being. These include maternal mortality, low birth weight, under-five mortality, child poverty, under-five malnutrition and stunting, and female mental health.
Guyana also ranks below average in female participation in the workforce, paid maternity or parental leave, formalisation of care-giving employment, and parent-friendly workplaces.
Our policy also confronts the fact that the first five years of a child’s life are critical for the development of the child’s brain. Without proper care and nourishment, that child is unlikely to realise his or her full mental and cognitive potential as an adult.
To this the opposition has outlined an ECCE policy that comprises six components:
- CHILDCARE ALLOWANCE AND NUTRITION VOUCHER: Pay a monthly childcare allowance of $10,000 for each child up to 16 years old, with an additional nutrition voucher of $2,500/month for each child up to 5 years old. Both allowances will be universal, regardless of whether the parents work or not.
- HIGHER INVESTMENTS IN SCHOOL FEEDING. Ramp up the school feeding programme by providing two nutritious meals a day countrywide. Explore the option of setting up large local kitchens (with trained staff) to cater for a cluster of schools in each district.
- MORE AVAILABLE AND ACCESSIBLE HIGH-QUALITY HEALTH AND WELLBEING FACILITIES: provide top-quality and free health care and wellbeing support for mothers and children throughout pregnancy and the early years of the child by amping up these services in terms of availability, accessibility, and effectiveness.
- LONGER MATERNITY/PARENTAL LEAVE: bring Guyana in line with many of the advanced countries in granting 5 to 6 months of paid parental leave, arranged to include a role for the father. The current paid 13-week maternity is inadequate on several measures. It prevents too many mothers from breast-feeding for the medically-recommended six months and it excludes fathers.
- MORE AVAILABLE DAYCARE FACILITIES: create a Day Care system to ensure that
(a) adequate and properly-regulated day care facilities are available to fulfil demand—through a mix of state-owned facilities, private licensed providers, and home-based kinship or nanny care;
(b) the State stands most or all the cost for day care services, an
(c) very importantly, caregivers are adequately trained and compensated. Such a system will encourage more female participation in the workforce.
6. MORE PARENT-FRIENDLY WORKPLACES: Either mandate or encourage/ incentivise both private and public sector workplaces to better accommodate pregnant mothers and those with young children by enhancing workplace flexibility for both parents. Measures would include allowing for part-time or unconventional work hours; leveraging technology (such as working from home); reducing travel time to and from work and other undue burdens on mothers/parents.
According to the Opposition its ECCE policy will also cater for families in exceptional circumstances, such as those with children with special needs and those from migrant or refugee populations. The Opposition believes with proper planning (based on gap and needs assessment, for example), execution, monitoring and adjusting the benefits to Guyanese people resulting from comprehensive approach would include:
(i) Stronger and happier mothers and families, and a more caring and stable society.
(ii) Greater social justice through gender parity or equity.
(iii) Better socially-adjusted children—who are less likely to engage in deviant and criminal behaviors as they age.
(iv) Expansion in GDP through greater female participation in the workforce and higher productivity from female workers.
General and Regional Elections are constitutionally due in 2025 and political forces are ramping how their messages and attacks against each other.
