Junior Education Minister Rhoda Moy Crawford says the Government is intensifying efforts to ensure more Jamaican children have access to trained early childhood educators, saying it is critical to the country’s long-term social and economic development.

Crawford, who was speaking at the Seventh Annual Professional Development Institute conference in Montego Bay, which was hosted by the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) earlier this week, says the Government is committed to getting it right with early childhood education.

“We are committed to providing one trained teacher per institution registered with the ECC, having the permit to operate at the infant enrolment per teacher ratio as outlined by the Early Childhood Act,” said Crawford.