Ramaphosa ramps up ECD sector
The Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector will officially move from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education from April 1 next year. This decision was gazetted on Thursday.
In his annual State of the Nation Address in 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that all children would have access to a two-year preschool education, including grade R, and that the responsibility for the ECD would be transferred from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education.
Delays in the transfer were as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which largely affected the sector.
Various groups have called for workshops on to how the process would work. The South African Childcare Association said that the aftercares were not included in the move.
Various ECD organisations were also calling on the government to prioritise vaccines against Covid-19 for the ECD sector, stating that they are also educators.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma, however, has gazetted that while the schools were closed due to alert level 4 regulations, all the ECD centres would remain open and operational, as long as they followed strict Covid-19 protocol. The matter of mask wearing for children under six was also clarified. Dlamini-zuma said this was not mandatory.