Transcript
SHELDON YETT: It's really the first one thousand days that are critical to a child's life. A child's brain is built during that time period, that's when all the connections are made. And children learn empathy, children learn many of the cognitive skills that are necessary for them to succeed later in life.
JENNY MEYER: What kind of challenges to a good education were discussed at this conference? We know for example in the past there have been some really basic problems like nutrition that have gotten in the way of even physical growth.
SY: People often look at education through a very, very narrow lens, the number of kids just going to school. But if kids don't have a foundation for learning once they arrive in school, they're not going to learn much. We know that throughout the Pacific up to 40 per cent of children are stunted. That's a very high rate. That means they're not the height for age that one would expect for their age. They're not getting the nutrition that they require. We also know up to 70 per cent of three to five-year-olds who are in primary school had no previous exposure to kindergarten type services, that also holds them back. We know that there are very high rates of open defecation, very high rates of violence, sexual abuse, all these things contribute to the learning environment and o the ability of a child to absorb the information that is so necessary in the first years of formal education.
JM: So what are the key steps that were discussed to try and overcome some of these really quite major hurdles to put children in an environment where they actually can learn positive things about the world?
SY: I think one of the most important ones is people understanding the need for Ministries of Education, Ministries of Health, Ministries of Social Services to work together for a common goal on this. Too often information, policies, are segmented, and that doesn't work.
JM: Is there anything else that you think is significant that has come out of the conference?
SY: Well I think there really is an understanding now that; yes, investments in the internet, investments in infrastructure matter; but they make no difference if we don't invest in children's lives. If we don't invest in the soft skills, the softer environment that is so necessary for a child to flourish. And its an understanding of the science, understanding of the practical steps that governments can take, even governments with limited resources, that I think makes this conference so effective.
