Johannesburg - Cash-strapped parents will have to add another expense to their monthly budget. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is set to announce that all children in South Africa must attend Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres before they start Grade 1.
And while education experts and unions reacted positively to news, they stressed that it has to be free. The draft Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) bill is currently before Parliament and while parents may bemoan the extra expense, the experts said it will be worthwhile in the long run.
The bill has been in the works for four years and when the process is complete, Parliament will make a public announcement on the status of the amendments.
But ECDs are privately owned and parents will have to pay what is agreed between themselves and the operators. Department spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga said parents understand the need for their children to be in ECD centres.
“Even with the current situation the country has seen an increase of up to one million children in registered ECD centres in the country. The government aims to expand the offering at this level,” he said.
And while parents might bemoan the extra costs, the department said the country cannot afford a situation where its children cannot read or right for meaning by the time they turn 10.
“South Africans have demanded that quality education is an urgent matter and that it needs to be fixed from the foundation phase. That’s exactly what the department is doing right now. The country cannot be held back from implementing changes because of a short-term challenge. If anything, the Covid-19 crisis means we must do even more to improve the standard of education that can withstand any crisis,” Mhlanga said.
Ruksana Osman, a professor of education at the University of the Witwatersrand, and the senior deputy vice-chancellor: academic at Wits, said while she believes ECD is a good investment, affordability will be key.
“It’s important that you raise the issue of affordability and rightly so. I am assuming that this will be free ECD, especially for those from poor households who need this intervention,” said Osman.
“For a long time now we know that good quality ECD interventions have a positive impact on later school success and even success in early adulthood. The point is that good quality ECD is vital for later development and this should have been done many years ago.”
Elbie Henning, a professor of educational linguistics and lead researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Childhood Education, said while it was ideal for children to attend an ECD centre or pre-school prior to going to primary school, using private institutions should not be the only way to go about it.
“I’m not sure that the only way to do that is to go to private institutions. I think it’s important to find out what the Education Department offers in this regard. The more children that can get ready for school, the better. And the better they are prepared before they start learning to read and to do mathematics and so on, it would be ideal.
“The question remains, however, who are the people who are going to do the teaching? What I think it comes down to is who will be in the classrooms with the children and that is a far more important question,” Henning said.
Dr Gabrielle Wills, an education economist and researcher with Resep (Research in Social and Economic Policy) in the department of economics at Stellenbosch University, said while the education system was well positioned for Grade R to become compulsory, significant improvements need to be made to the quality of what is offered.
“In post-apartheid South Africa there has been considerable expansion in access to early childhood development. The DBE's action plan to 2024 indicates that in 1998, 18% of children aged 0-6 were attending a pre-school, meaning some kind of education and care institution outside a school. By 2017, that figure had reached 43%. Most of this expansion occurred before 2012. Schools-based Grade R increased from 13% to 72% of the age five cohort between 1999 and 2017.
“In 2021, almost 780 000 Grade Rs were identified as being in ordinary and special schools,” Wills said.
The Federation of Associations of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) CEO, Dr Jaco Deacon said the government has to take financial responsibility if parents are unable to afford it.
“It is a good thing for children and in principle we support it, but the state needs to have a financial plan on the table or this will just be a ‘pie in the sky’ discussion,” he said.
Deacon believes money will be the greatest stumbling block and if parents are unable to afford it, they should apply for school fee exemptions and the government must then support these children.
Basil Manuel, the executive director of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa said introducing compulsory Grade R schooling would be beneficial in improving the quality of SA’s educational system but warns there are huge challenges to overcome if a successful national Grade R class is to be introduced.
“We need to fix the bottom if we want the top to work. For one, we have a serious problem with infrastructure. We are unable to ensure at the moment that the schools that are currently operational are of a standard that meets with the most basic standards that will ensure that people are in a dignified surrounding,” he said.
He pointed out that building an ideal Grade R classroom would be expensive. This would include a mini library, a fantasy room and wash basins in the classroom.
Another challenge is that of children in informal schools that have more child minding classes. In these schools many of the teachers are unqualified and would have to be trained.
“And we would have to see what we can do with the unqualified teachers,” said Manuel. As a former principal of a primary school I can tell you the children who came to Grade 1 that were not from a more formalised Grade R class were very different and much further behind in a developmental sense,” Manuel said.
Equal Education (EE) said that given how crucial early childhood care and education are in a youngster’s growth and development they support the proposal of two years of compulsory pre-schooling in principle.
But the organisation’s deputy director Robyn Bere said that it has not yet been determined whether the two years of pre-school will be rolled out at ECD Centres, in existing primary schools or both.
“At present Grade R is offered in both schools and ECD centres and children do have to complete their Grade R in order to progress to Grade 1 and so it can be assumed that when Grade RR is introduced children will be required to complete Grade RR before progressing to Grade R and then Grade 1,” she said.
“A child who has not attended Grade RR or Grade R cannot and will not be turned away from school should they try and enrol in Grade 1 for the first time.”
Bere insisted that appropriate support will need to be put in place to ensure the child is able to catch up to cope with Grade 1 requirements.
“A consideration about placing that child in Grade R may be made. Regardless, every child has the right to education no matter what age they enter the system, they cannot be turned away.”
She said that if a child is enrolled at a public school and the parents are unable to pay school fees, they will be eligible to apply for a fee exemption.
“No child can be denied an education based on their parents’ inability to pay school fees and parents are entitled to apply for fee exemptions.”