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WENDY MOTHATA|
GAUENG MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi says that the migration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) from Department of Social Development (DSD) to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) was one of the major achievements of the past financial year.
He was tabling the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) 2022/23 budget during a house sitting at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.
“This is a major achievement that will allow our children to grow in an education environment and cease with the old approach of considering ECD centres as existing to only provide child care,” said Lesufi.
Lesufi believes early ECD plays a vital role in laying a strong foundation for children.
He said learners will be exposed to Mathematics, Physical Science and Life Sciences subjects from an early age, adding that this move will assist in the elimination of learners dropping out of school at an early age.
The department will now be responsible to support, subsidise and regulate the programmes across Gauteng in line with Chapter 5 and 6 of the Children’s Act.
The existing governance structures between GDE and GDSD will continue to operate to manage the transitional period and to ensure that all levels of service are maintained.
“Science and research confirm that the first 6 years of learning are more crucial to children, that if we provide the necessary support to our children, they will grow to become better citizens. From now on, children will no longer come to ECD centres to pray, sing, eat and sleep. They will now be given an opportunity to learn so that they can grow and become better citizens,” Lesufi said.
“The NDP clearly lays out a vision that can only be reached if we are working together; a vision in which we live together in peace and security in a land that we nurture. A vision in which we realise opportunities for all. This is the grand vision that we want to lay a firm foundation for our children as they start their ECD journey to be better citizens.”
Universalisation of Grade R
To date, the Department has offered ECD to over 164 000 learners in schools and community-based sites.
“We will be expanding Grade R to all public primary schools regardless of their socio-economic status. Private Grade R sites will be registered through the introduction of provincial regulations, to ensure that there is an adequate mix of public, private and community-based Grade R sites. We will use the ECD programmes registered with the Department to determine the number of Grade R learners in private ECD centres. This data has not been previously available. We will improve on our EMIS systems to collect data from private ECD centres,” said Lesufi.
Lesifi said that the department will put in place a research process to determine the criteria for the funding of targeted Community Based Sites (CBS) offering Grade R.
“The department will also work with the GDSD and municipalities to identify targeted private Grade R centres registered with GDSD and local government and provide them with curriculum support and training,” Lesufi said.
“To further improve the quality of Grade R teaching, all Grade R practitioners are required to acquire a minimum qualification and skills to teach Grade R. The Department envisages to register practitioners annually for full time programmes. In 2022/23, the Department aims to register 400 Grade R practitioners for a Bachelor of Education Degree and 500 Pre-grade R practitioners for upskill in qualification on ECD NQF Level 4.”
“This is to ensure that we don’t have ECD outside the public education space, but we have ECD that is within the education space and provides the relevant transition from Grade R to Grade 1 immediately within our education environment. We also want to urge all those that still run their ECD centres within the private education sector to continue provide this kind of support. They must continue enrolling our children and the GDE will co-operate with them at an appropriate stage to provide all the relevant support immediately in terms of learning, learning material and the quality of educators that will provide support to these children. This is crucial to ensure that our children get the best education on their first day in our schools.”
INSIDE EDUCATION