Advocating the Rights of Children (ARC) wishes to thank Kieveni Education Centre and Maldivian Nurses Association for their partnership with ARC to conduct an English Reading Programme for the children, and an Early Childcare Training for the staff at Kudakudhinge Hiya, respectively.
The reading programme commenced on 4 May 2013, and will be held every Saturday. ARC believes that this programme would be of great benefit to the children, as it will improve the childrens reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, and therefore help improve their overall performance in school. Children also learn how to manage stress and new experiences through books. In addition, reading also builds their imagination and ARC hopes this programme will lead to a lifelong love for reading, for the children.
The Early Childcare Training will be conducted from 19 May to 6 June 2013. This training program will cover a range of topics from general hygiene, baby bath and baby care, infant and complementary feeding, as well as treating minor ailments, safety needs and stimulation and play needs of infants and toddlers. Similar training programs were held at the shelter in 2011 and 2012, and ARC was encouraged to note that the training helped improve the quality of care received by the children, by providing essential skills and knowledge required for the care workers to look after the children in a caring and safe environment.