Bhisho in shock: 94% of EC children miss out on creche
MORE than 90% of the province’s children never get to attend early child development centres, largely because their parents cannot afford to pay the school fees or ferry them to the nearest creche.
The provincial government has now allocated R264-million to fund these centres, said social development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi.
She was responding to questions put to her by DA MPL Kobus Botha in the Bhisho legislature last week.
Other reasons she cited for the problem were lack of suitable transport to ferry disabled children, as well as too few centres in informal settlements and rural and farming areas. Sihlwayi’s responses angered opposition parties.
Botha said the MEC had no comprehension of how important the access to Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres were to the academic development of the children.
He said her lack of accountability over the low rate of attendance at ECD centres was likely to result in the province continuing to produce the lowest matric pass rate in SA.
“The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become.
“That is why the need to invest in young children is so important, so as to maximise their future wellbeing,” said Botha.
Out of 870 900 pre-schoolers in the province, only 53 700 attend ECD centres.
The highest non-attendance is experienced in the Alfred Nzo area followed by OR Tambo and Chris Hani District.
The MEC’s breakdown shows that:
● Alfred Nzo District has 6 964 attending and 127 673 not attending;
● OR Tambo District has 8 196 attending and 211 086 not attending; and
● Chris Hani District has 9 324 attending and 105 798 not attending.
Sihlwayi said there were no ECD centres in most informal settlements and rural and farm areas. In addition, few children with disabilities were able to attend the centres.
The Daily Dispatch visited Mzamomhle township to hear why parents did not send their children to the centres.
Zameka Mgwebi, a mother of two who is a contract worker, said the centres were expensive even though they were sponsored by the state. She said the department funded a maximum of only 30 children, and when that number was exceeded the centres had no choice but to charge the parents.
“We want to take our kids to the centres but they are not free and we just simply cannot afford them,” she said.
Department spokesperson Gcobani Maswana said: “In areas where there are no ECD centres (farms, informal settlements), the department still provided ECD programmes to ensure access of children to ECD programmes.”
He said the department would only be satisfied when every eligible child was afforded an opportunity to access services offered in ECD centres so that the trajectory of their lives was changed for the better.