R273 million allocation for ECD programme

The lack of basic tools and infrastructure in the province’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres will hopefully soon be something of the past after the Department of Social Development allocated R273 million towards the ECD programme in the 2017/18 financial year.
An additional R41 million of the Conditional Grant was also allocated to assist ECDs in the province. The conditional grant is categorised into three of which R30 million will be used for subsidy, R8 million for maintenance and
R2,1 million for human resource (HR) purposes. This was announced by Department Head, Daphne Ramokgopa during the Provincial ECD Summit that was held in Polokwane on Tuesday.
The summit aimed to bring stakeholders together to develop an action plan in implementing the National Integrated ECD Policy and also to discuss issues regarding ECD funding and development, among others.
In the previous financial year, ECD centres were allocated R250 million and Ramokgopa’s biggest concern was that the toddler population was growing enormously but the budget allocated to them was not enough.
Statistics provided by the department revealed that the current population of children between the ages of 0 to 5 attending ECDs is 808 942 of which 406 025 are boys and
402 917 girls. Ramokgopa outlined that of the
3 377 ECDs registered with the department only 1 844 were funded in the previous financial year. She said 20% of ECDs are still without proper toilets while 51% still rely on pit toilets. It was reported that 71% of ECD centres still use wood, coal, gas and paraffin to prepare meals for children and Ramokgopa pleaded with parties responsible for electrification to intervene.
“We still have a serious backlog when it comes to disability assessment. ECD centres must make sure that they are registered with the Department of Education to be able to follow all the curriculums suitable for the toddlers. We have appointed ECD task teams to monitor all the centres and report to the department,” she explained.
Ramokgopa also emphasised that the lack of qualified ECD practitioners is still a headache in the province and further outlined that young people should be encouraged to study courses relating to ECDs to help groom young children.
Acting Social Development MEC Phophi Ramathuba said ECD practitioners should remember that the children they groom and shape today are the leaders of tomorrow. She further said this year’s summit had been planned to develop the Policy Provincial Action Plan, which will be implemented by all relevant departments and stakeholders. ECD is a programme that needs a collective effort from all stakeholders.
“The general perception that this is only a Social Development or Education Department programme is not correct. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child and indeed it takes many interested and committed parties to ensure that we raise our children in an effective, safe, stimulating and healthy environment. Apart from ECD being the apex priority of government, I believe that we all have a passion to ensure that our children receive the best early education that will lay the foundation for our children to remain in school and achieve a quality education that they can be proud of,” said Ramathuba.

Story & photo: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za