Daily Dispatch

E Cape programme to boost early learning

- By ARETHA LINDEN

A TRADITIONA­L council, a nonprofit organisati­on and a university have joined forces to prioritise early learning for children.

The programme by the Gompo Traditiona­l Council, Blue Crane Foundation and the University of Fort Hare is aimed at empowering community structures involved in early childhood developmen­t (ECD) centres through capacity training.

The initiative will see hundreds of ECD managers, teachers and school governing bodies being equipped with managerial skills, teachers obtaining suitable qualificat­ions and books being sourced for children to promote the culture of reading.

The programme has already been rolled out at 45 preschools in East London where the centres participat­ed in the training offered by Fort Hare.

The training includes basic ECD training for new teachers and principals to manage ECD programmes.

Speaking to the Dispatch, Dr Namhla Sotuku, from Fort Hare, said the objective was to make ECD centres more practical and to lay a solid learning foundation for children.

Sotuku said some of the challenges identified were parents’ and families’ lack of involvemen­t in their children’s developmen­t, unqualifie­d ECD practition­ers and the need to improve the quality of service offered by ECD programmes.

Fort Hare recently establishe­d a centre for excellence to address challenges related to ECD.

The centre will focus on research, teaching, as well as scholarly and community engagement.

Sotuku said the outcome of engagement­s and “trans-disciplina­ry” research to be conducted by investigat­ors from different discipline­s, would be used to inform ECD policy implementa­tions, interventi­on programmes and practices.

To address the issue of unqualifie­d practition­ers, Sotuku said they were planning to introduce short courses, NQF Level 6 diplomas and NQF Level 7 degrees in early childhood care and education.

The centre will be based in a building, now under constructi­on, next to the university’s faculty of education campus in East London.

Some of its features will include a model of a pre-school that will be used to provide a site to test effective practices in child developmen­t in classrooms, and video conferenci­ng facilities.

Blue Crane Foundation director Galit Cohen said there was substantia­l internatio­nal evidence which indicated that providing structured and quality ECD services and programmes to preschool children created better societies.

“This evidence indicates that providing appropriat­e cognitive stimulatio­n, nutrition, care and health services during this critical developmen­t period results in increased primary school enrolment, enhanced school performanc­e, lowered repetition and drop-out rates, reduced juvenile crime rates and [increased] social productivi­ty in adulthood,” Cohen said.

Gompo Traditiona­l Council head Chief Mthuthuzel­i Makinana, said lack of managerial skills of people whom government entrusted with the responsibi­lity of grooming future leaders, prompted the council’s involvemen­t in this programme. —

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