Pretoria - Early Childhood Development (ECD) workers and their union National Union Of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw), marched to the Union Buildings to submit a memorandum of their grievances to the president.
“For many years we have relentlessly fought about the mismanagement of ECD funds from the government, also the integration into the mainstream education system and for our workers to be absorbed by the government or recognised as public servants because of the service they are rendering to communities, which is mainly the responsibility of the government to its citizens through equal education for all.” - Nupsaw spokesperson, Ellen Bodoza said
According to Bodoza, the government's responsibility has shifted through neoliberalism and it has put NGOs in dealings relating ECDs and workers get slave wages called stipends of as little as R6 per hour which is about R1500 per month
“It is upsetting because for the past five years ECD practitioners and ECD support staff have not received any salary increases but the government awards a huge amount of money to NGOs to pay ECD workers, which in return the workers do not get compensated for as they should because the NGOs also want to take their share from the allocated money.” - Nupsaw spokesperson, Ellen Bodoza said
At the State of the Nation address the president said “Over 700 000 children were assessed with early childhood education in the last financial year. Due to that this year the government will migrate responsibilities for ECD centres from Social Development to Basic Education and it will continue with the process for the two years of compulsory ECD for all children before they enter Grade 1.”
The disgruntled ECD workers therefore demand immediate implementation of the interim standardisation of R7 000 remuneration of community ECD practitioners with effect from April 1.
“As community ECD workers we feel neglected by the government because some practitioners based at various public ordinary schools are already getting R7 000 whereas we are doing the same job and possibly even more but we get less than R2 000 monthly.” - ECD practitioner Olivier Shivambu said
Furthermore, ECD workers also demand the department of Basic Education to immediately implement the monitoring of pre-Grade R curriculum from birth to 4-years-old in community centres.
Nupsaw and ECD workers have given the president 14 days to positively respond to the grievances they raised.