ECD project to help fix ‘cracks’ in education
Partnership will see training of teachers in foundation phase
ANEW curriculum that aims to “fix the cracks” in early childhood development is currently being developed.
It is as a result of a partnership between a university, non-profit organisations and the Rotary Foundation.
The project that will see 25 ECD practitioners from the Buffalo City Metro (BCM) receive training is through a partnership between the Institute of Training and Education for Capacitybuilding (Itec), University of Fort Hare (UFH), the Rotary Foundation, Loaves and Fishes, Small Projects Foundation and Sidebene Ngomntwana.
Yesterday, at an event held at the Itec in East London, the partners launched the project dubbed “Sinako” (meaning ‘we can do it’) where they welcomed the 25 practitioners who were selected from ECD centres in townships and rural areas within the metro.
Speaking at the launch, UFH ECD centre director Dr Namhla Sotuku said the project’s objective was to change the narrative of the education system in the province.
“We all know that education is in crisis, we can simply tell by looking at the high Grade 12 failure rate. Recently, the Daily Dispatch reported that there was a high failure rate in Grade 1, this was evidence of the cracks in Grade R and pre-Grade R,” said Sotuku.
The launch follows a front page report in the Dispatch last month quoting education MEC Mandla Makupula revealing a provincial pass rate crisis in Grade 1. He said one in every five Grade 1 pupils fell below the pass mark.
According to Sotuku, government had realised that if the state failed to pay attention to the foundation phase, the crisis would spill over to higher education.
“We have pupils who cannot even put together a simple sentence because of the cracks in the foundation phase,” said Sotuku.
Barbara Valentine, of the Itec, where the practitioners will be trained, said the curriculum would focus on the social, physical and mental development of children under the age of four.
“It [the curriculum] will have everyday themed activities that will holistically develop the child’s mind to improve their use of language and numeracy,” said Valentine.
Lauren Brady from the Gately Rotary Club in East London said together with the Libertyville Sunrise Foundation, had injected more than R4-million towards the improvement of ECDCs in the region in the past couple of years.
Hilton Williams, from the Small Projects Foundation, said facilitators would monitor the project to ensure its success.
One of the project’s beneficiaries, Phumza Mkhencele, runs an ECDC in Duncan Village, in Toilet City.
Mkhencele said the skills that practitioners would acquire through the training would help break the poverty cycle, by ensuring a strong foundation for children to succeed in school.
“This project will break that cycle of high matric failure,” said Mkhencele.