Early childhood development (ECD) remains elusive for many pre-schoolers in most rural communities, with nearly 80% of Limpopo ECD centres not fully registered, five months into the migration of ECD from social development to basic education.
ECD practitioner Manyake Mangwato says the idea of starting a pre-school was born 19 years ago. This after she felt children in her community needed a safe space during the day.
Mangwato says one of the prime reasons she can’t meet full compliance as required by the government is lack of proper fencing around her facility.
She decided to open a crèche because she saw children playing on the streets unattended and there were many cruel things being done to children. Others fell into rivers or holes, sometimes children would be left unattended so she wanted a place to ensure that children were safe.
While Mangwato started the crèche with the safety of children in mind, the desire to learn seemingly decreased with dwindling numbers. Enrolment has decreased from over fifty to fourteen.
One of Mangwato’s colleagues Maggie Senong is bemoaning a lack of parental appetite for their children’s education.
Senong says, “We don’t have support from parents even when you give children homework, you can see that there has not been anything done by parents something as simple as writing a-e-i-o-u – parents won’t teach that at home.”
ECD transfer from Social Development Dept. to Education Dept. under way
Early childhood development expert Candice Potgieter supports the concept of reinforcement of learning in the home.
Potgieter says, “Education and learning starts from when a child is born. So it is not only the responsibility of the ECD centre – but creating this playful environment and bond with a child once they go into the ECD centre – how are we reinforcing the same concept in the home environment. It also doesn’t need to be difficult or a challenge, it needs to be something we do on a daily basis whether it’s talking or even numerical concepts or patterns making sure the environment we create is a learning environment.”
Less than 500 of the province’s ECD centres meet the requirements for full registration.
Limpopo Department of Education spokesperson Matome Moremi-Taueatsoala says, “We’ve got 3 500 ECD centres out of that 3 100 and something are on conditional registration and 426 are fully registered. As a department, we are working closely as you know we took over the function in April.”
Moremi-Taueatsoala says the department has embarked on a roadshow to assist practitioners with compliance.
Early Childhood Development (ECD) workers have slammed Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu’s decision to employ 36 000 youth compliance monitors for ECD programmes.
— SABC News (@SABCNews) August 8, 2020
