The launch of Early Childhood Development (ECD) massification campaign in Ngaka Modiri Molema is one amongst a series of campaigns that will unfold, throughout October Social Development month, in other districts of the province to tackle the challenges facing the early childhood centres, North West MEC for Social Development Collen Maine said yesterday.

Maine was addressing more than 200 Early Childhood Development Practitioners at the launch of ECD campaign held in Mmabatho.

The aim of the campaigns, Maine said is to promote the registration of early childhood development centres and partial care facilities in the province.

“Furthermore these campaigns serve as a platform for ECD practitioners to voice their concerns and collectively with our stakeholders devise meticulous plans to resolve the challenges encountered by practitioners on their day to day operations in their respective centres,” Maine said.

He said his department would improve the state of ECD centres in the province by introducing prototype models of centres in the next three financial years.

“While we take into account your daily frustrations ranging from stipends to infrastructure we, equally urge our practitioners to exercise patience and devise innovations to resolve some challenges they face.”

One of the ECD practitioners from Tswaing, Elizabeth Tlholatlung said the child subsidy of R15 per child is not enough to cater for the daily operation or smooth running of their facility given high costs of electricity, cleaning services and the provision of food to children.

“It is time ECD practitioners have a monthly salary like any other government employees and have adequate buildings to serve as centres for children,” Tlholatung said.

Meanwhile Home Affairs Moapei Mosadi urged practitioners and parents to work in partnership with her department to eradicate late registration of birth by registering newly born babies with 30 days of birth to avoid problems.

“The challenges facing us as a department responsible for administering child births is that parents leave hospital or clinic without registering their children citing that they had to go home first and decide about the names of the children before they can register them. They take time until they fall into the trap of late registration of birth,” Mosadi said, adding that parents should legalise their marriages so that their children should not have two surnames which would cause problems with Home Affairs when both parents have passed on.

Maine presented support material in the form of indoor and out-door playing equipment, computers, printers and fire extinguishers to ECD practitioners, citing their his department would take the campaigns of similar nature to Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati, Bojanala and Dr Kenneth Kaunda districts during this month.

More than 800 Early Childhood Development Centres in province are registered with the Department of Social Development while 922 are unregistered though they still receive services from the department. –TDN
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