The Department of Social Development has embarked on an audit of Early Childhood Development (ECD) sites across the country to obtain a national baseline for ECD provisioning. The audit will provide information on the nature and extent of ECD provisioning, services, resources and infrastructure in order to inform and support on-going policy and planning initiatives.
For the purpose of the audit, an ECD site is defined as any public or private, formal or informal location wherein ECD services are offered to groups of six or more learners.
Minister for Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, says this audit is critical because early childhood development has been identified by government as one of the most important interventions linked to Government’s Outcome 1 – Improving the quality of Basic Education.
“We want to make visible progress on the issue of early childhood development by establishing ECD Centres throughout the country, especially in poor communities. The information we will gather through this audit will ensure a structured roll out of effective, properly resourced ECD Centres,” said Minister Dlamini.
An estimated 18 000 ECD sites will be audited. Information pertaining to their location, the number of children they serve, number of staff and their qualifications, operating costs, number of children with disabilities, the type of curriculum used, assessment methods employed, immunisation programmes, nutrition, condition of infrastructure, health and occupational safety issues, and compliance with the norms and standards as outlined in the Children’s Act (Act No.38 of 2005), will be gathered.
The department requests assistance from the media, ECD practitioners, municipalities and communities in identifying unregistered ECD sites. ECD practitioners are urged to co-operate with the enumerators who will be conducting the field work.
Media enquiries:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
