Breaking the cycle of poor education
With ECD thus laying the foundation for future success in the schooling system, the programme was designed to ensure that quality ECD at the school is invested.
ELANDSHOEK – In the spirit of “getting things done through partnerships” as suggested by premier David Mabuza recently, a 12-month partnership between Sappi, Penreach and the Department of Education this week indeed proved to be a “fruitful expenditure”.
On Tuesday stakeholders, partners, parents, teachers and children celebrated the launch of the Sappi Early Childhood Development Centre (SECDC) at Entabamhlope Combined School.
In an attempt to break the cycle of poor education, as Mpumalanga reflected a lack of access to quality early childhood development (ECD) in the rural communities of the province, attendees were informed that Sappi decided to partner with Penreach as ECD was one of Penreach’s core focus areas. According to recent statistics only 28 per cent of children in Mpumalanga up to the age of four years have access to any kind of ECD, and only eight per cent receive any formal early learning intervention. “Almost 80 per cent of a child’s brain potential is achieved by the age of four and undisputed studies have indicated that the actual quality of an individual’s brain structure is determined by experiences during his/her first few years,”Susanna Oosthuizen who is responsible for Penreach Partnership and Sustainability, said.
With ECD thus laying the foundation for future success in the schooling system, the programme was designed to ensure that quality ECD at the school is invested.
According to Oosthuizen the project has ensured access to quality ECD for 117 preschool and grade R learners and 120 foundation phase learners which resulted in improved lesson planning, classroom management, improved physical activity and rapidly moving literacy and numeracy.The goal of the project was also to establish a pipeline of quality education, ensure properly qualified, knowledgeable, professional and motivated teachers; improve the introduction of literacy and numeracy; develop school leadership and ensure the physical well-being of the child as well as early identification of barriers to learning.
“IECD includes children up to nine years and two preschools for children aged two to four years, as well as Entabamhlope Combined School for grade R and foundation phase up to nine years,” Oosthuizen explained. The project also involves eight preschool practitioners, four foundation phase teachers and two school management team members. Sappi group head of corporate affairs, André Oberholzer, supported Linkwati’s view on “fruitful expenditure” and referred to a study in the USA which revealed that for every
$1 invested in ECD, $8 is yielded in return 12 years later.
Sappi already provided financial support of over R5,6 million, assisting Penreach in reaching more than 1 000 teachers, impacting on 370 000 learners since 1994. For this specific programme, Sappi has invested over R1 million and the company announced that a further R600 000 had been budgeted for 2015.
