How will the president address the education crisis in his State of the Nation Address, what definitive plans are there for Early Childhood Development, and what solutions are there for the future of South Africa’s children?
There is a dire need for systemic improvements in the quality of learning in the country’s basic education system. This signals the need for not only effective systems for enrollment from a foundation-phase perspective, but active participation leading to learning.
According to CSI Specialist at MAMAS Alliance, German More, the need for these systemic improvements begins at a pre-school, foundational level. “In the education sector, we expect the SoNA to announce plans to address the challenges in the education system – particularly the ECD sector – namely issues of infrastructure, teacher training and capacity building, to address the exclusion of 8 million children who are not in the system. It is one thing to move the sector to the Department of Basic Education, but another to ensure quality early learning environments that are critical for the success of children in the schooling system,” says German.
In the Department of Basic Education’s 2022/2023 annual performance plan published in March 2022, Minister Angie Motshekga said the department was expected to take over Early Childhood Development functions from 1 April of 2022/23, with the government planning to focus heavily on foundational learning in the coming years. One of the key proposals was to see Grade R learning become mandatory at schools in South Africa, with the government hoping to improve outcomes around reading and mathematics as children enter the education system earlier.
The education system needs to address learning gaps and challenges – especially in the ECD sector, since these challenges compound rapidly if not addressed. As a country and broader education stakeholders, we should engage further on how to protect the rights of children to develop their full cognitive, emotional, social and physical potential, and in particular to address critical gaps and to ensure the provision of a comprehensive, universally available and equitable early childhood development services.
The MAMAS Alliance CSI Agency places a strong focus on education, particularly Early Childhood Development. The agency aims to simplify CSI by facilitating and supporting the partnership between funder and NGO, with all funds flowing directly from the CSI funder to the benefitting NGO.
Because education plays a pivotal role in the development of a child, MAMAS Alliance believes in the earliest possible intervention in education. Through well-planned, sustainable CSI programmes, the Alliance creates an environment where MAMAS can “walk with a child” throughout their life, offering a range of services that empower them to become well-adjusted, economically active, responsible adults within their communities.
Contact the MAMAS Alliance CSI team at info@mamasalliance.com for more information.
