MEC for education advocates universal access to early childhood development
The Childhood Development (ECD) centres appreciated the support that will enable them to improve their education system.
As part of his Early Childhood Development (ECD) Support Programme, the MEC for education, Bonakele Majuba, undertook a monitoring visit to Khulani Early Childhood Development Centre in Tjakastad under Mashishila Circuit in the Chief Albert Luthuli Local Municipality on Tuesday January 23.
Khulani ECD Centre is one of the 37 early childhood development centres in the area.
Majuba met with ECD sector stakeholders from 16 ECD centre managers from Manzana, Tjakastad, Mooiplaas, Oshoek, Aramburg, eMbhuleni and Nhlazatshe to better understand how the 2024 school year had kicked off at their various centres.
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The engagements centred around overall support, nutrition, stipends, physical infrastructure including toilets and ablutions facilities, and centre management, among other factors affecting ECD centres.
Siphiwe Nkosi, the manager of Khulani ECD Centre expressed her appreciation for the support and pledged to work harder to improve education delivery in the areas of influence.
“We as Khulani Early Childhood Development Centre are grateful for having the MEC visiting us. Our centre was birthed by a need for ECD to offer a much-needed service to the community. The mission of the centre is to help develop our children holistically so they can be better equipped for the foundation phase,” Nkosi said.
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Majuba said, “We are dealing with much-needed transformation to the ECD sector which is not an event, but a process. The department has thus initiated the training of ECD practitioners at the ECD Institute situated in Bohlabela, Bushbuckridge to mitigate the issue of skills development and qualifications in the sector. We are therefore confident that we are on the right track in developing a holistic system that is well oiled for the development of our children at an early age from birth to four years.”
