Forum to uplift Kowie children
AN AWARD-WINNING Sunshine Coast township sports initiative that has produced top South African rowers and gymnasts has started an early childhood development forum to better prepare impoverished toddlers for big school.
Nemato Change a Life (NCaL) founder Jan Blom yesterday said hundreds of poor children with potential had fallen through the cracks over the past nine years since he started teaching rowing in Port Alfred because they were not given proper early childhood development (ECD) before starting primary school.
“The idea behind the forum is to lift the standard at local creches by sharing knowledge and offering free courses for teachers that will help break the chains of poverty young children are born into.
“A lot of township children are not prepared for Grade 1 and have to play catch-up their whole lives at school.”
Although NCaL started a free nursery school three years ago for one- to fiveyearthey can only take 30 kids a year – with dozens more on the waiting list.
According to Blom, the need for a coordinated ECD programme in Nemato and nearby Station Hill became apparent during compulsory afternoon homework classes for NCaL members where it was found many displayed poor logical thinking development.
He said most township pre-schools were not properly equipped and did not have teachers who knew about the importance of ECD, resulting in children being “miles” behind those from more affluent facilities in Grade 1.
“They start at a huge disadvantage and never catch up; by the time they get to grades 11 and 12 many do not even know what they are doing in class and end up just guessing.
“It is very difficult to turn around if the basics of logical thinking are not developed from an early age before they get to school.”
Although township pre-schools charge considerably less per month than their suburban counterparts, Blom said the ECD standards were far lower and many were just a babysitting service.
“Most township pre-schools rely on parents who are too poor to pay what little they can for children to attend.
“Statistics for the Eastern Cape show that pre-school teacher salaries in townships are less than R1 500 a month and this affects the quality of early childhood development given to children.”
The Nemato ECD forum may still be in its infancy but this did not stop 15 of 18 invited local creches from attending a free day-long workshop yesterday by the award-winning Early Inspiration group to help teachers better budget and run their facility.
Excited Ben 10 creche owner Celiwe Loni said the forum had been created to help pre-schools improve ECD and uplift standards in the township.
“I am not qualified as a creche teacher and appreciate getting ideas that will help improve the way we work with children.”
Station Hill Rainbow Kidz owner Lorraine Samuel said even though she did a course at Rhodes University before opening up to 42 children, the forum was a good way of getting ideas and improving standards.
“Some places leave the children to play all day or sit and watch TV,” she said.
Destiny Nelson, who also did a Rhodes ECD course that has helped her work at the NCaL creche, said daily activities included singing, counting, reading books, name spelling and learning English. —