Update: 3:22PM AS the Government now places more emphasis on early childhood education (ECE) being the cornerstone to the success of Fiji’s education system, it has revealed that to date, there are 942 early childhood education (ECE) centres in the country.
The ECE centres are spread out in Ba/Tavua, Cakaudrove, Macuata/Bua, Nadroga/avosa, nausori, Ra, Suva and in the Eastern Division.
Education Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy said there were now 1139 teachers and around 15,577 ECE students.
Responding to a question in Parliament on how the ECE sector had developed over the past two years, Dr Reddy said in 2015, 102 new ECE centres were established.
Last year, he said 47 new centres were established.
“In addition, we financially assisted the various schools and communities to set up new ECE centres, as well as for renovation works to the existing ones,” Dr Reddy said.
“Over the past two years, we have funded 84 ECE projects, which included assistance for 47 new ECE centres while 37 centres were assisted for renovation and upgrading, amounting to a total of $820,100 being injected.”
