Don’t treat early childhood education as an optional extra
WITH reference to your article, “Funds should go to young pupils” (Cape Times, February 26).
Congratulations to Dr David Harrison of the DG Murray Trust on his excellent overview of the situation of education in our country.
I have been actively involved in early childhood development since the 1970s, and have seen early childhood education treated as an “optional extra” of little consequence by education authorities, other education practitioners and parents throughout that time.
There is little or no public money for preschool pupils in the years when their brains are growing amazingly fast and they could begin to harness their own potential towards human excellence. Dr Harrison says it is 1% of the education budget! The question occurs to me: Why does anyone bother with such a piffling amount?
Preschool education is relatively inexpensive to run in an early learning environment, and most facilities are privately owned.
Facilities in the suburbs charge enormous fees, and in poorer areas where it is desperately needed for families to eventually get themselves out of poverty by means of education, the teachers cannot generate enough funds through fees to pay themselves the minimum wage.
It is absolutely normal for township teachers to become qualified, work long hours, teach their pupils responsibly throughout the day, and have take-home pay of about R1 000 a month.
The current situation appals me. State subsidies are essential to correct this imbalance. About 30% of preschool pupils can attend good early childhood education facilities in the townships and rural areas, and we all know that the early years are the time of greatest brain growth in young children. What a waste of natural potential sorely needed in this country.
We have to look at these circumstances to see why we have such a large drop-out rate in formal education. Grade 1 pupils start school at a considerable disadvantage from the beginning, have very large classes at state schools, and then fall out of schooling later when it becomes too hard for them to succeed.
I heartily endorse Dr Harrison’s closing statement: “The next push – from all of us – must be for any new money to go straight to early childhood education.”