For some time now, I have been reading complaints in the press from early childhood educators about their very low salaries. After hearing a recent radio interview during which early childhood educators gave accounts of their poor salaries and problems with their contracts of employment, I can no longer hold my peace.The importance of early childhood education in the positive holistic development of children has been well-documented. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has as one of its fundamental principles, the child's right to life, survival and development. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in its general comment entitled "Implementing child rights in early childhood" revealed that research showed that "proper prevention and intervention strategies during early childhood have the potential to impact positively on young children's current well-being and future prospects."Additionally, a basic principle of the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency is that "the successful prevention of juvenile delinquency requires efforts on the part of the entire society to ensure the harmonious development of adolescents, with respect for and promotion of their personality from early childhood." (emphasis mine).
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, in conjunction with the American Bar Association (ABA) Centre of Children and the Law and Zero to Three, the National Centre for Infants, Toddlers and Families, in 2009, published a book, Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Futures: a Judge's Guide, to educate judges on the science of early childhood development and to "equip the bench to do better by babies every day."In the preface to the book, Eva J Klain, director of the ABA Centre, states: "A recent explosion of research on early brain development highlights how crucial the early years are in the health and development of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.The foundation laid early in life affects their childhoods, adolescence and adult lives." The Judge's Guide highlighted the finding of the American Academy of Pediatrics, that: "During infancy and childhood, the child's brain develops its capacity for trust, self-esteem, conscience, empathy, problem-solving, focused learning and self-control."WEB Du Bois, in his book The Souls of Black Folk, wrote: "The chief problem in any community cursed with crime is not the punishment of the criminals, but the preventing of the young from being trained to crime." There is no doubt that our community is cursed with crime. It is also obvious that our focus is on punishment of criminals and not on the prevention "of the young from being trained to crime."
Despite all the available evidence, our society fails to see the link between the absence of a properly-resourced early childhood education system and the development of criminogenic tendencies.Successive governments spend lavishly on the construction of impressive buildings and highways and comparatively little on early childhood education, which would build our children's character, ensure their holistic development and ultimately, reduce crime. Shortsightedly, we relegate early childhood education to the bottom of our resources, not recognising that the child must first successfully clamber up the first rung of education before ascending to the top of the ladder of success.The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in the Comment referred to earlier, emphasised that: "Work with young children should be socially valued and properly paid (emphasis mine), in order to attract a highly-qualified workforce, men as well as women." If we do not pay our early childhood educators properly, the best of them will eventually leave for greener pastures. Early attachments formed between educator and infants will be broken with dire consequences for the child. Those who can afford will pay for their children to have this important head start in life. Children of the poor will continue to be disadvantaged and have their future prospects dimmed.Our children are being urged to "do the right thing because it is the right thing to do."This presupposes that children always know what is right. This is not necessarily true. If parents and teachers do not teach children what is right, do not guide young children's brains to develop their consciences and empathy, children may not know, and thus, will be unable to do the right thing.The well-being and future prospects of our children and any plans for reduction of crime in our society require that we recognise and value the importance of the work of our early childhood educators. Let us pay them well.
Hazel Thompson-Ahye
Child Rights Advocate