The Diploma in Early Childhood Development (DECD) was instituted on March 25, 1995 to respond to the growing needs for teacher training in preschool education. The DECD aims to provide practitioners, teachers, daycare workers, and program implementors the knowledge and skills needed for teaching and working with children below six years old in settings like preschools, day care centers, orphanages, family centers, etc. It also seeks to develop among its students an understanding of early childhood development in the context of the basic unit of society, the family.