 The activity is in the second part of a series of workshops sponsored by UNICEF and the Child Development and Guidance Centre. The Early Childhood Services Unit of the Ministry of Education, through the initiative, is ensuring compliance and high standards are maintained within the early childhood development sector. Training officer at the Early Childhood Services Unit, Ruth Phillips-Favrier says, the workshop allowed administrators to receive support and information on how to tackle issues arising out of the pandemic, especially the transition of young students back to the classroom. Coming out of the pandemic and the lessons learned and what we found in terms of persons return to the so-called normalcy, we realised that there were some issues of impacting the children, the practitioners as well as the parents. So we felt it imperative to put together a series of training sessions to help to address those identified needs. Administrator of HECDEC Preschool and participant of last week's activity, Ola Henry says, the transition back to the classroom was tedious, as the isolation period for young children at that critical development stage, she said, can pose problems, such as regression in the development of social skills. What we notice with the children is that the children are a lot more aggressive. They are not able to play. Play has become something of the past for them. I think one of the things that COVID really did was to not give the children the opportunity to really interact and that really regressed them a bit. So it's indeed a challenge for us, but we are getting through. Organisers say activities like these bolster the capacity of administrators and set standards within the sector to ensure that stakeholders respond appropriately to the new challenges that may arise. According to Ruf-Philippe's favourite, the training workshops serve as a long-term and valuable investment into the young children of the country. Well, the theme selected for this year's Observance of Universal Children's Day is investing in our future, means investing in our children. And it's against that backdrop as well that we have this workshop, because if a country has to grow, has to move forward, we need to start at the foundation. So our hope is that our practitioners will gain some new knowledge, better insights to enhance their skills and competencies, and also to help them with their attitude, the strategies, the way they interact with the children, the activities they plan, and to realise the importance of engaging the parents. More training initiatives are scheduled to take place in the coming year as the Early Childhood Services Unit continues to promote high standards within the sector, ensuring that preschoolers have access to wholesome, foundational learning and the development spaces and the techniques. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and the Vocational Training, I am Danielle Dubois reporting.