The children

With an overall population of 751,224 children in Guyana account for 43 percent of persons  living in the South Caribbean nation.  Although the weakness of data collection hampers the monitoring of progress on child rights and on the Millienmeum Development Goals, it was evident that children and families in the southern Caribbean state were faced with numerous challenges and opportunities over the last year. Natural disasters, changes in economic policies affecting livelihoods, volatile political situations and growing problem of all sorts of violence presented obstacles towards greater progress in achieving the MDGs and child rights.

Education

The Ministry of Education statistics have been recording relatively good attendance rates for nursery education which caters to children 3 years 9 months to 5 years 9 months with an overall percentage attendance at 72%.While there is no major gender difference, the disparity exists in the hinterland, and rural areas which show percentage average attendance at 60 and 68% respectively. It is to be noted that attendance at the nursery schools, though free is not compulsory.

Children accessing early childhood education remain relatively low, though some progress has been made in the past year. 35 per cent of children 3-5 years old participate in some form of early childhood education with hardly any difference in gender parity. There were, however, marked differences between coastal urban (48 per cent) and coastal rural (29 per cent); the latter being even lower than the attendance in the Hinterland Regions (35 per cent). One of the reasons possibly is that attendance in such programmes is not compulsory.[1] To address the low coverage and lack of standards and norms, an early childhood development (ECD) policy and national action plan are being developed. Guyana has committed to implementing the Caricom Regional Framework for Early Childhood Development

The concept of Early Childhood Development and its integrated nature is now embraced by policy and decisions makers and many early childhood practitioners in Guyana.  Integrated planning is becoming increasingly evident and an ECD National Steering Committee is in place.  As a result, progress is being made in terms of public sensitization and the establishment of minimum standards for ECD services and programmes.

Quality Child Care

Children’s access to quality early child care services is low for the 0 – 3 age group. This is compounded by the fact that UNICEF’s programming reaches to an average of 4% of the nation’s children in this age cohort. However, with the introduction of   standardized training programmes for child care workers, structured parent education programmes, establishment of  centres adhering  to minimum standards – all facilitated by UNICEF, it is envisioned that  through these opportunities children at this age can be  beneficiaries of quality ECD services. 

Health

Much progress has been made in terms of access to preventative and curative health care for children and indicators for immunisation reflect this. However, there is a concern about relatively high infant mortality rates in which stands at 48, mainly peri and neo-natal and child mortality which is 69. This reflects mainly poor quality of preventative care services.

With relatively high levels of poverty, chronic malnutrition is a problem and displays significant geographical disparities. In Guyana, for example, the national averages for stunting are 10 per cent but as rates are as high as 25% among Amerindian Guyanese children.[2] Poor diet and repeated bouts of infectious disease in childhood are considered the main causes. Poor early childhood rearing practices may also be a contributing factor. Maternal mortality rates also remain unacceptably high[3], indicating poor obstetric services and delayed referral of women with risky pregnancies.

[1] United Nations Common Country Assessment, 2004.