 The OECS Program for Educational Advancement and Relevant Learning, or OECS PURL, is a five-year initiative executed across the Subregional Alliance, aimed at increasing equity, access and the standard of education in all member states. Enhancing the quality and equality of access to early childhood education is a critical enhancement component of the program. If pilot schools were selected, where a need has been identified specifically at the pre-kindergarten level, based on the socioeconomic status of parents from the various communities. National Coordinator for the OECS PURL, Sophia Edwards-Cabriel, says the pilot pre-k project will kick-start remedial action to deal with the gaps, which causes children to be further disadvantaged when they enter kindergarten. So we're creating classroom spaces or pre-k spaces, adding that onto the schools so that we know students who are not able to afford preschool can actually still access preschool education within our regular school setting. The three schools visited included the Morghush Combine, Vie for Infant and Denry Infant Schools. Principals of these schools say they are all excited about the next stage of the program after a year of preparation. On an average, about five percent of our students would attend a preschool and so their social skills, they were not ready when they came to the school. I have only been the principal for a year and four months based on my experience with parents and interactions with staff. We know that this program will be of great benefit to the school. I am very thankful to the OECS PURL. We at the Denry Infant School, we welcome that idea because every year I would get requests for registering students who would normally be in a pre-k classroom. But because of our space, we were only able to take the five-year-olds. The spaces selected for the pre-k classrooms have undergone repairs and upgrades, making it suitable for children of pre-kindergarten ages. An officer for District 7, K-Clark Nicholas, says this is important as children of the pre-k age require a different environment as compared to that of kindergarten and infant levels. Research would have proven that children who go to early childhood sectors have better opportunities, they learn better, they have better social skills. And so we are very excited about the project at Moghuj. I'm really hoping that Moghuj now will become a school of choice in the area. The U.S. $10 million OECS PURL funded by the Global Partnership for Education, GPE, seeks to also increase the quality of teaching and learning in the OECS region as well, especially in light of the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector. The PURL will also enhance curriculum and assessment, strengthened leadership and management, program management, institutional strengthening, monitoring, and evaluation. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology, and Vocational Training, I am Chris Satney reporting.