The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries has called for coordination of resources in order to maximise the impact Early Childhood Development (ECD) have in society.
The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Makhi Feni, said the ECD centres are an empowerment tool whose role and importance should never be forsaken.
“It is really concerning to the committee that we read of challenges besieging the ECD sector when we had just transferred the function to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) Surely, our portfolio will not and must not fail our children, as there was a reason to migrate the function to education.”
“This is a function that requires everyone and any help with regards to the welfare and foundation phase education of our children. We are building a nation; and our actions include budget allocated for this specific function must support that,” emphasised Mr Feni.
Weekend reports indicated that several ECD centres, and some attached to schools, struggled with basic necessities like water, sanitation and food items especially in the rural Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
Mr Feni said the committee would love to receive an update briefing on empirical and manifest challenges since the migration of the function to the DBE.
“We do not want a system that breaks our children and their early educators either through budget constraints or infrastructure. We call on the minister and the provincial MECs to prioritise the work around ECD centres. These are areas where our children spend the longest time without parental supervision and outside their homes.”
The committee also noted the challenges around payment of student teachers and tutors in Quintile One schools. Mr Feni said the committee accepted the fiscal constrained environment the DBE operated in. “But we do not want the challenges to become a phenomenon; the DBE must attend to this matter urgently wherever it is manifest.”
“Salaries of teachers are a no-go area for cuts and hiccups. These are meagre salaries, it is not as if these teachers are paid millions.”
Mr Feni said the committee’s interest was a functional system where all parents see value and trust that their children will turn out responsible and accountable young adults whose skills will be relevant to a 21st Century economy.
Africa Fact: The first Great Pyramid of Giza, the most extraordinary building in history, was a staggering 481 feet tall – the equivalent of a 40-storey building. It was made of 2.3 million blocks of limestone and granite, some weighing 100 tons.
Blinker
Fun South African Fact: The South African Rovos Rail is considered the most luxurious train in the world.
Electric Saturn
Boerewors — spicy South African sausage [boor-uh-vors] Meaning ‘farmer’s sausage’, this term describes a savory sausage that was developed by the Afrikaners approximately 200 years ago. Boerewors is usually ‘braaied’ and eaten on a hot dog roll with tomato sauce and mustard. Make sure you roll the ‘r’ when pronouncing this word.