Cape Town - With a cash injection of nearly R16-million, Cape Town’s drive to strengthen early childhood development will see the roll-out of more “centres of excellence” over the coming financial year.
Areas earmarked for the new centres include Delft, Mitchells Plain, Dunoon, Ocean View, Heideveld and Lotus River.
In the current financial year, the city’s early childhood development department spent over R7m on the construction of the Leonsdale and Scorpio centres in Elsies River and Ocean View respectively, while the new Strandfontein centre is under construction.
The City’s mayoral committee member for social development and early childhood development, Suzette Little, emphasised the importance of well-functioning early childhood development centres in building a caring city.
“A child who receives the right kind of stimulation in their early developmental years will no doubt cope better when they enter the formal education system and so it is important that we do everything within our power to ensure that our centres are able to fulfil this very crucial role in the lives of our children.”
She said the investment was part of a goal of “getting to the point where each and every child had access to a facility that can provide the building blocks so crucial to their future”.
Professor Eric Atmore, head of the Centre for Early Childhood Development, an independent organisation in the development sector, said increasing access to the centres was crucial.
“Very few children of working parents (mothers mainly) have early learning opportunities prior to school. Because of the shortage of places at early childhood development centres, many parents leave their children attended by individuals ill-equipped to care for and provide the appropriate early stimulation and care,” he said.
Improving quality was also important because the quality in more than half of all the centres did not even meet “very reasonable” standards.
“The teachers are untrained, there is no learning programme, the building is inadequate and a danger, there is no equipment and the meal the child receives is inadequate.”
Leanne Keet, who heads the Masikhule early childhood development NGO, said teacher training, in-service training and guidance should be a priority.
“Many centres have unqualified staff with a high staff turnover and ongoing training of new and permanent staff is vital. Training should not only be on a theoretical level, but include as much practical work and implementation opportunities as possible.”
Keet and Little emphasised the role parents should play. They said it was important for parents to get involved in their child’s early development and to be made aware of the importance of early stimulation by vital information being shared though various channels like clinics, hospitals, day mothers/crèches, NGOs, church groups and others.
Little wants to “remind parents of their responsibility” as early centres are only part of the picture.
Cape Times