Domino Foundation ensures sanitised environment for tots
Many of the children’s caregivers have not been earning during lockdown.
Usually hives of activity, ringing with lots of happy noise from little children, the country’s early childhood development (ECD) centres have been closed and silent during lockdown. With the easing of restrictions, parents and caregivers are back at work and need their children’s ECD centres to re-open.
However, much has had to be done for the centres to be ready to welcome their tiny learners. The department of social development (DSD) issued parameters for the risk assessments, state of readiness, health and hygiene protocols before these centres could re-open. The Domino Foundation’s ECD programme has been proactive in helping the 63 centres which work alongside its nutrition programme to meet the department’s criteria.
“We have worked with the centres’ owners and educators to file the department’s self-assessment forms. Now, with re-opening on the horizon, we have helped with ensuring correct sanitising of the centres, making arrangements for regular screenings of the children and arranging classroom spaces for stipulated social-distancing,” said Zanele Nzimakwe, leader of the ECD team at Domino. She pointed out that many of the children’s caregivers have not been earning during lockdown.
“They haven’t been able to pay the fees, which the centres depend on for their day-to-day running, so there is nothing extra in the bank accounts to pay for staff PPE masks, sanitisers, cleaning materials and thermometers. Even soap and water for some centres is a challenge.”
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The Domino team, alongside ECD owners and their teams, has scrubbed, polished and sprayed classroom spaces, and helped with ensuring outdoor play areas conform to the DSD’s directives. Zanele appeals to the community to support the ‘get our little children back to school’ sanitising activity, which will be ongoing as long as regulations are in place. To assist, call 031-563-9605 or email admin@domino.org.za.
“We will need to help these ECD centres with cleaning and sanitising materials for some time to come.” For more information on what a difference you can make, visit the link tree https://linktr.ee/DominoFoundation.
