ECD Census to build data management information system

For the first time in the history of South Africa, an Early Childhood Development Census will be taking place from August to December 2021.

A total of 129 teams, consisting of two field workers assigned to 30 rural wards each and three fieldworkers to 45 urban wards, will visit an estimated 48,000 sites across 4,392 wards in 12 weeks, commencing on 23 August 2021.

The ECD Census will be launched by Basic Education Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga today [August 26], during an online event.

As per the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa, during his State of the Nation Address in February 2019, the responsibility of leading and coordinating the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector will be shifting from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education (DBE).

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However, the responsibility of ECD is an integrated service, with the Departments of Basic Education, Social Development, Health and Cooperative Governance playing a key role in delivery.

In addition, NGO networks, ECD Forums, Ward Councillors and ECD Coordinators will all play a critical role in assisting with identifying ECD programmes and advocating for the Census.

The programme is placed within the Business Intelligence Branch and is co-led by the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and the Research Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation (RCME) Directorates, in collaboration with the Foundations for Learning Chief Directorate.

Limited accurate information on ECD delivery is available and the lack of empirical data concerning the levels and nature of ECD provisioning is hindering informed resource allocation, practitioner support, policy development and planning initiatives.

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The ECD Census 2021 will count all registered and non-registered ECD programmes to build a data management information system for the ECD sector.

Funded by the LEGO Foundation, the data and indicators will establish the baseline for assessing the quality of learning through play in South Africa.

During data collection, fieldworkers contracted by Ikapadata, a survey research and data science company, will make an appointment to visit each ECD programme to conduct interviews with the principal or relevant representative and record observations.

The information gathered will be used to integrate ECD into the Education Management Information System (EMIS), and expand education support programmes and play-based learning.

The survey will also make observations on the facilities available at the sites to enable planning for the greater inclusion of children with disabilities, and the delivery of integrated health and safety programmes.

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