EARLY SUPPORT VITAL TO CHANGING LIVES

THE state of care and stimulation for early childhood development (ECD) in South Africa is in prolonged crisis.

The early years are crucial to a child’s all-round development, and the foundation to their ability to become active and contributing members of families and communities. Yet the legacy of inequality in South Africa is perpetuated because vulnerable children remain unreached by an ECD support system that safeguards their futures.

Two weeks ago, I met Thando, 4, in a playgroup supported by the Lunchbox Fund. He is one of many socially and economically marginalised children in South Africa. He lives in rural Umvoti in KwaZulu-Natal, where there are high levels of food insecurity, poverty, unemployment and severe isolation from services. His mother is still at school and the family are entirely reliant on social grants for survival.

There are many impacts of the ongoing deficiencies in ECD support on children such as Thando. Two of the most indicative of the scale of the problem are malnutrition in children under five, and the very low levels of school readiness seen in children entering Grade 1.

Malnutrition is mainly driven by poverty and food insecurity, but these are closely tied in with a lack of access to affordable healthy foods, together with dietary choices that are far from optimal for developing children. Chronic malnutrition leads to stunting. Thando is among the 25% of children under the age of five who is stunted. However, there is a so-called “double burden” to malnutrition, characterised by undernutrition occurring alongside overweight, obesity, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, and diet-related non-communicable diseases. A significant feature of malnutrition is the availability of (and growing preference for) “globalised” processed foods, high in fat and/or sugars but low in nutritional value. In fact, much of this food is cheaply available in South Africa, even in the remotest areas. Some of Thando’s grandmother’s precious grant money is spent each month on chips and sweets – food which absorbs precious resources while depriving his body and mind of critical nutrients.

Thando is among 60% of all South African children (18.5 million) born to poor families. These children not only lack the critical food and health-care resources needed for optimal development, they are also deprived of ECD services that nurture all spheres of their development. Addressing all areas of development for children like Thando is only possible through collaborative efforts in the ECD sector.

Although Thando is in an extremely vulnerable position, he is one of the fortunate 20% of children who is able to access some form of ECD learning programme. He attends an early learning playgroup, which also has access to a toy library. The playgroup offers a hot, fortified breakfast to all its participants, which alleviates their hunger and makes a significant difference to their activity levels and learning.

ECD learning programmes are pivotal in helping children enter Grade 1 ready for schooling.

Learning programmes are channelled through ECD centres, community-based playgroups and home visits.

ECD programmes require a combination of quality stimulation and teaching, nutrition at school that ensures children are not hungry, and a physical environment that protects children’s safety. Only partnerships between government departments, the private sector and donors, and non-government and grass-roots organisations have the potential to address all these needs.

Visionary and committed collaboration is slowly gaining traction. The great news is that while there is a long way to go, this approach shows promise in developing qualified teaching, in-school nutrition, and safe infrastructure for ECDC programmes in South Africa. As a result, Thando and many children like him have a chance to break free of the cycle of inequality and to develop to their full potential.