As the need arises daily to improve the overall level of education in the country, careful consideration must be given to ensure that today's children are taught quality values from an early age. Since 1994, the Ministry of Education has been striving to accomplish this through recommended legislation on preschool education for the entire Bahamas by the Task Force on Education.

It is a known fact that the earlier children are exposed to good learning skills, the better they will be equipped to handle the stressful challenges experienced by today's youth in the various teaching environments they are placed in.

For several years now, much has been said in regard to 'D' being the national grade point average of the country. Veteran educators and social experts have all expressed their concerns and some have even given possible solutions to improving the grade.

While their input has some value, it is worthy to note again that if boys and girls are taught to appreciate the significance of getting 'a good education' or encouraged to continue striving for excellence from when they are very young, then much can be achieved in changing the national grade average.

Even though there are several workable means by which the Ministry of Education can improve the present standard of education to bring about such a change, the fact still remains, it is the effort of each child which determines when the change will come.

Does that mean then that parents have a pertinent role to play in changing the national grade average? Maybe, especially when you consider the powerful influence a mother or father has in directing their children to learn.

There are some children who learn how to read, write and count from when they are two or three, while there are others who begin to learn such these things from when they are four or five. Even noted child psychologists state that children learn at different rates. What may take one child a year to learn may take another two or three years.

However, it cannot be argued that if children have parents who motivate them to learn and that motivation comes at an early age, then that child is able to grasp the importance of learning. This is the ultimate key to improving the educational standard in the country. Thus showing why it is so vital for the Ministry of Education to continue promoting a higher quality of early childhood education and daycare in The Bahamas.

Last Friday, preschool teachers from all over Grand Bahama assembled at the Teachers and Salaried Workers Cooperative Credit Union Hall to begin a 10-month training course updating them on the latest preschool legislation standards.

This certainly shows that the Ministry of Education is very much committed to its mandate of regulating efficient operating standards for preschools throughout the country. It also indicates that the Ministry recognizes how important it is for all preschools to seek enhancing how they present educational services to the community and to do so by meeting the standards set out by the Ministry.

According to Senior Education Officer Agatha Archer, the final draft of new standards are being critiqued and the revised national standard will be presented to Parliament and aligned with regulations before the end of the first quarter of the new school year. Surely this move will help to ensure that preschool education remains a top priority.