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UG’s Early Childhood Centre of Excellence marks 4th graduation
(Kaieteur News) – The University of Guyana’s (UG) Early Childhood Centre of Excellence (ECCE) held its fourth graduation ceremony on Friday at the George Walcott Lecture Theatre, Turkeyen campus, celebrating 15 pre-school graduates and 20 graduates from the nursery level’s level-two class.
The occasion drew Vice Chancellor Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, ECCE Director Dr. Lidon Lashley, teachers, parents and university officials. Children performed music, song, dance and poetry during the ceremony.
Vice Chancellor of UG, Professor Dr. Paloma Mohamed-Martin
In his director’s reflection, Dr. Lashley described the Centre as a childcare, teaching and research hub established to model best practice in early childhood pedagogy and safeguarding, and to build a curriculum responsive to diverse learners’ needs. He said UG-ECCE’s approach — combining student training, clinical practicum and research-based observation — is designed to foster a safe, respectful, nurturing environment that supports children’s social, physical, intellectual, creative, emotional and spiritual development.
“We have done that for four years. We haven’t perfected it, but we are still working on its perfection,” Lashley said. “We may never achieve perfection, but in the meantime, our children are having a remarkable experience experimenting with us, and we are seeing their development skyrocket.”
He pointed to visible growth in the children over their time at the Centre, many moving from being quiet and shy to confident and inquisitive. On the special-needs front, Dr. Lashley traced the Centre’s growth from an intake of 30 children in its first year to 57 in year two, 63 in year three, and 67 currently — alongside roughly 1,095 children screened in total over the four years.
Dr. Lashley credited a range of local, regional and international partnerships for supporting the Centre’s mission, including participation in conferences such as Exploring Disability and Indigenising Early Childhood Development. He said that between 2022 and 2026, UG-ECCE delivered on several fronts: building a developmentally appropriate learning environment grounded in Universal Design for Learning principles, modelling exemplary pedagogy, and generating research aimed at reducing child inequality — including for children with impairments or disabilities — by examining how early experiences shape outcomes.
Scenes from the University of Guyana’s (UG) Early Childhood Centre of Excellence graduation ceremony on Friday at the George Walcott Lecture Theatre at the Turkeyen campus.
The Centre has also supported the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, working with the Child Care and Protection Agency through responsive research and practice. Its early childhood development and special education needs and disability (SEND) practitioners have contributed to teaching, research, community and public service, national development, and international conversations on early childhood development, Lashley added.
University of Guyana’s (UG) Early Childhood Centre of Excellence Director, Dr. Lidon Lashley.
He also praised the Centre’s teaching staff, noting that 15 of its 40 teachers are set to graduate from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE). “What this means for us is that come August 31, or when schools reopen, we would have 15 additional trained teachers, which means less in-house training,” he said.
In her remarks, Vice Chancellor Mohamed-Martin congratulated the Centre on its work since opening just under five years ago, noting that its research is being used at the University of the West Indies and other universities worldwide. “It’s some of the most important research coming out, so that we can understand how we can make children’s lives better,” she said.
She also revealed that plans are underway to establish a primary school, telling the audience that as the Centre’s children move on to other schools, they will remain part of its alumni community — and, in time, she looks forward to welcoming them as University of Guyana graduates.
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