Conference puts Early Childhood Development on the agenda
Government is set to make Early Childhood Development more accessible in communities across the country.
This emerged from the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Conference recently hosted by the Department of Social Development.
Held
in East London, the conference brought together various government
departments dealing with children, policy-makers, donors, development
agencies, civil society organisations and other ECD practitioners. The
theme of the conference was “Tshwaragano Ka Bana” (Working Together for
Children).
ECD refers to the education of children in the formative ages of 0 to 6 years.
Minister
of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, told the conference that
“different departments and entities of government, will put in place a
range of services that will support young children, women, households
and care-givers including the programme to support and statutorily
recognise the community-based Early Childhood Centres that already exist
in the rural areas”.
Speaking at the conference, Minister of
Correctional Services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said her department has
opened three dedicated Mother and Baby Units at Pollsmoor, Durban
Westville and Johannesburg Correctional facilities.
Minister of
Public Service and Administration, Roy Padayachie, called on “all
departments who have primary role in ECD, donor agencies and corporate
South Africa” to “explore the possibility of establishing the ECD Fund
in every Municipality to solely look at providing appropriate
infrastructure in ECD sites. This initiative will augment what
government is currently spending in ECD infrastructure development”.
Childhood Development (ECD) Conference 2012
