ECD centres: Challenging, but doable
Staff at Early Childhood Development centre are hard at work to prepare these centres to reopen, even if a final date for all centres has not been announced yet.
POLOKWANE – With no date set in stone for the re-opening of Early Childhood Development centres, owners and staff at these centres are hard at work preparing to get the centres ready.
Charmaine Botha, Managing Director at Eduexperts, a national Early Childhood Development training centre, about the opening of ECD centres is part of eight workstreams that were put together to provide important information on what ECD centres need to have ready before they can open.
“The Department of Social Development sent out self-assessment checklists to every centre, even if it is just a temporary place of safety, as well as a standard operating procedure checklist. Each ECD needs to train their staff, have protective equipment and posters about Covid-19 in the centre,” she explained.
Every centre has to conduct a census among their learners in which parents are asked when they plan to send their toddlers back and whether they have any co-morbidities. A risk assessment is then done and each school will have to record all Covid-19 procedures.
“Children under the age of three do not sanitise their hands, but will need to wash them with soap and running water. Children under the age of five may not wear masks, therefore we recommend face shields to be worn instead. Teachers will not take off their masks.”
There will be a schedule to make sure parents do not have to queue when dropping off and picking up their children, Botha said. “Parents will have to wait in their vehicles, where they will be screened and sanitised. It is preferable that parents do not enter the school premises. They will also have to hand in a questionnaire on their children’s health, every Monday.”
Every school will have an isolation area where a teacher who received paediatric first aid will be on duty, she further explained. “She will wear protective clothing. The children’s temperatures will be taken three times a day: when they get to school, when they wake up after their nap and just before they go home.”
Additional cleaning staff have been appointed as sanitising will become part and parcel of the way forward. “Each time a child gets up from a chair, has used the toilet or played with toys, the area would need to be cleaned. Room dividers in every class is a must to keep children from touching each other and their belongings. The cleaning staff completed a course to ensure they are informed and ready.”
Children will also be kept from sharing equipment. “Every child will have his or her own box equipped with all their needs. They are not allowed to share anything. All sandpits have to be cleared out and all water games need to have a soap basis. Slides need to be cleaned before the next child can use it.”
Food preparation will also be a big task as all ECD centres will need to provide food needs and specific food preparation certificates. “The person preparing the food has to clean surfaces continuously and no food should be left even for a few seconds without being covered.”
Nap time will see each child having his or her own mattress and these should be placed 2 metres apart. It should also be cleaned after the children have slept on it.
Capacity has been a big obstacle, but is one that most schools will accommodate, according to Botha. “We will not receive everyone back all at once as classes can only be filled to 50% capacity. Teachers will have to teach online after a full day at school, to cater for those who have not returned to school. There will be fewer children, but more teaching hours.”
Working with and educating toddlers in the time of Covid-19 will be challenging, but doable, she said. “This will be a difficult time for everyone. At this age, children learn empathy and we won’t be able to even hug them. In this regard, we advise parents to make more time for their children and shower them with hugs at home. Make sure your child is emotionally okay. Remember, they cannot always say how they feel and might start reacting aggressively.”
She also advised parents to boost their children’s immune systems and give them healthy foods to eat.
