Global Early Childhood

I read several articles from the developing child from Harvard and I must say Brazil is on top of their game.  A group of Brazilians ranging from policy makers to civil society leaders gather together at Harvard to understand the importance of  child development and how it can be applied to most social complex problems.  The range of leaders wanted to strengthen early childhood policies in their community as well as strengthen public and social policies.  Many of the leaders vowed to go back to their jurisdiction and communicate to their stakeholders beginning with the parents to the head of state about the importance of early childhood.  I commend Brazil for their dedication to children and bettering their community.  It takes a village to raise a child and this country is willing to take on the task.

In the next article I read it was about the children in Zimbabwe attending an early childhood program.  Basically the program is trying to develop an assessment tool of the physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development of the children.  The assessment will be necessary for understanding the progress the children have developed in the program and monitoring the achievement gap.  The assessment is called ZAMCAT which stands for Zimbabwe Child Assessment Test and is sure to make a difference in the early childhood program. 

The last article I read was the basically an array of the collaboration and dedication that Harvard dedicates to early childhood globally.  They worked with the people of Zimbabwe to develop and assessment tool, brought the people of Brazil over for a leadership class in the importance of early childhood and social problems.  The magnitude of the work Harvard puts into creating a better world is inspiring.  I hope one day to be able to part of the change of the world but in the meantime I will continue to make a difference one child at a time.

Nondefense Discretionary Programs

Well as you know I love the website the National Head Start Association and the reason why is their love for early childhood education.  This week they had a great article on the 3000 organizations that signed a letter asking for the protection of nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs.  Programs such as Head Start make up 3.4% of the budget and are not the cause of the growing debt.  If congress decides to cut NDD programs than more than 100,000 children will lose their Head Start or Early Head Start position in the middle of the school year, which basically puts us back to square one in the achievement gap of children in poverty. I love this article for many reasons it validates why we do not need more budget cuts and it really makes people think about how important early childhood education is to our community and our children. 

As for the topic of neuroscientist, economists, and politians this article wraps it up very nicely on how important their support is to early childhood education. I think this week I hit it out of the ballpark with this article and issues surrounding economics and achievement gaps between children in poverty and their peers.  I say increase the budget that gives a return investment and a brighter future and implement Universal Preschool too!!!!!!!!!

India's Poverty

India is home to the South’s highest poverty rate.  The challenge this county faces is unique in an all aspects as they face poverty in both high and low regions of the land.  The poverty associated with this country covers all spectrums of struggle such as education, health, skills, and economic growth.  India’s high rates of communicable diseases, malnutrition, and maternal and prenatal illnesses, are predominant among poor people. The fast rates of non- communicable diseases, while rapid urbanization is resulting in new health problems, such as HIV/AIDS.  Children of India also face severe poverty as an estimated 400 million children 0-18 make up the population.  Nearly half of the children in India are malnourished or born significantly underweight.  The 20% of the world’s children out of school come from India and girls are less significant.  In fact girls make up almost 68% of the work force in India (Marshall).  Boys are regarded as highly favorable and are encourage attending both primary and secondary school. 

Although, India faces such a crisis in poverty they are making strides in reducing the spectrum that is associated with it.  Important achievements have been made in health and education. Infant mortality fell from 80 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 69 in 2000. The enrolment of primary school-aged children rose from 68 percent in 1992/1993 to 82 percent at the end of the decade (Marshall).   At last India’s government is implementing programs such as the largest food subsidy programmed, which is explicitly targeted towards the poor.   In essence, the life for children and the people of India are hard and unimaginable in a world that associates poverty with food stamps and EEO housing. 

Marshall, J. (n.d.). Childhood poverty research and policy centre. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/ p://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Web Resources

The website I have chosen to focus on for the next eight weeks is http://www.nhsa.org which is the National Head start Association.  This organization focuses on the advocacy of providing children with early intervention services to become a healthier and more academically accomplished young person all over the United States.  The article that caught my attention in this month’s newsletter is the 2013 budget for the Head Start program and the danger it inflicts.  The Head Start program is looking at significant budget cuts in 2013 affecting teacher cuts and the program as a whole.  Children’s acceptance into the program will be significantly cut as well as the budget for operating cost.  The NHSA is asking for all educators to contact their congressman and advocate for the benefits of the Head Start program.  I know as a Head Start teacher the severe impact the budget has on the program.  I lost my job last year along with several other teachers and assistants after we went form an 18 classroom program to 10.  We served 280 kids in 2011-2012 and those numbers have decreased significantly.  In a population in which the Head Start program serves a majority of the young children it really broke my heart to know that we loss major funding this school year and now are at risk for losing more.  In relation to the demographics and the budget cuts it is simple as long as we are losing we are failing our children.  It is hard enough to be an immigrant in the United States but not having the proper services to give each child a level playing field is even more of a tragedy.  I crinch at the thought that Congress won’t think enough of our young children to advocate for their education; it is time to implement universal preschool!  The demographics show the increase in populations of immigrants and their children needing early intervention services.  It would be un-American not to provide them with an equal opportunity education.