Government calls for stakeholder buy-in for ECD development

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]

GOVERNMENT has called for increased stakeholder collaboration towards developing and improving Early Childhood Development (ECD) learning through establishment of state-of-the-art centres across the country.

This is critical towards developing the foundational numeracy and literacy skills among pupils. The Government this year adopted the Early Learning Policy so as to strengthen and harmonise the implementation of infant education and ensure high-quality early learning programmes.

Speaking at the official opening of Kiddo Adventures Academy in Gwanda that operates as an ECD centre recently, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mrs Thumisang Thabela, said a recent assessment has shown that a number of learners who were moving into Grade Three were lacking in foundational numeracy and literacy skills.

She said the Government was focused on strengthening foundational learning and schools should come up with strategies at their institutions.

“It’s concerning that some of our children are moving to Grade Three from infant school not knowing how to read or count,” said Mrs Thabela. 

“Basic foundational literacies and numeracies, digital literacy, science and mathematics education should be key in the provision of the play-based education at ECD centres.

“Inventing in early childhood education is a key priority of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education as one of its mandates in the provision of education to the citizenry of this country.”

Mrs Thabela said the Government introduced early childhood education as the foundation of the Infant School Module as a pillar for readiness into Grade One. 

“The ECD module, thus, optimises the chances of pupils exiting the infant module at Grade Two with the desired literacies and numeracies for formal learning beyond the module, said Mrs Thabela.

She said research has shown that the human brain develops to about 90 percent of its capacity during the first five years of life and therefore early learning is the most critical level of education development.

Mrs Thabela said Government is still short of well over 2 000 schools and there is room for various partners to join Government in fulfilling the education rights of our population. She said public private partnership remains a critical pillar in the provision of education services.

Strengthening basic STEM and literacies from early childhood education, Mrs Thabela said, will allow the country to attain its Vision 2030.

“Through the Education Act, the Government opened up room for non-governmental actors to join in providing children with access to their right to a relevant and quality education,” she said. 

“The existence of state- of- the- art private institutions such as Kiddo Adventures Academy, is a confirmation that Government’s public/private partnership policy is paying dividends.”

Kiddo Adventures Academy, which is owned by Mr Charles and Mrs Ntandoyenkosi Kunjani, opened its doors to ECD learners in January this year and has 23 pupils. The institution is set to introduce a Grade One class next year.

Speaking during the same event Mrs Kunjani said the desire to see children grow intellectually, physically and emotionally led to the establishment of the facility. 

She said it was their desire to expand the school so as to accommodate more learners and all grades, adding that they were in need of more land to expand the school.

Mrs Kunjani said there was a need for children in small towns to have access to quality education.

“Our desire is to establish a multi-disciplinary school stretching from ECD to tertiary level and we will work towards realising that dream. As an institution our desire is to serve the community of Gwanda,” she said.

Gwanda Town Mayor, Cllr Njabulo Siziba said the municipality was aiming at attaining a city status and one way to achieve this goal is through construction of state-of-the-art infrastructure such as Kiddo Adventures Academy. He urged locals to take up land, which is available in the town and develop state of the art infrastructure. Cllr Siziba said the development of the town will create employment for locals. — -@DubeMatutu