ECD news
Massive inequalities exist in South Africa when it comes to a child's experiences in their first 5 years of life. An estimated two-thirds of 4-5-year-olds live below the poverty line, with minimal access to healthcare, nutrition and quality Early Learning Programmes (ELPs). ECD centres provide Early Learning Programmes, alongside nutrition, safety, love and care.
These multiple risk factors mean that a large percentage of South Africa's young children are falling behind before they even enter a school classroom.
Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) on the ground have been doing solid work for many years, trying to help ECD centres run as smoothly, safely and compliantly as possible.
Complying with municipal regulations and by-laws is unattainable for many ECD centres. A Health and Safety Certificate and Fire Clearance is required for registration. The problem is that it will not be issued without zoning/land use and approved building plans, all of which require compliance with contextually inappropriate municipal by-laws. The lack of title deeds or holding a valid lease is also an issue that many ECD centres in disadvantaged areas face.
The ECD centre is thus unable to ultimately register with the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Aside from not being able to be legally compliant as an educational business, this also affects their ability to apply for much-needed funding.
Alongside this requirement to meet unattainable municipal requirements, comes a hefty municipal fee to rezone/gain consent use, a fee that the vast majority of ECD centres would be fortunate to turn over in a year. For the majority of ECD centres in South Africa it is a month-to-month existence financially. Running a quality ECD centre is expensive and fees often do not cover the actual cost of providing the ECD service.
Add this rezoning/gaining consent use municipal cost to the actual costs involved in complying - e.g.: putting in small toilets and small hand basins, building a brick wall around the refuse bins, ensuring your building is fire safe and that your kitchen is compliant (extractor fan, 3 sinks etc.). The list is seemingly endless. Municipal requirements that apply to an ECD centre in a suburb need not necessarily apply to an ECD centre in a township. There is no 'one size fits all' in the ECD sector.
The reality is that many ECD centres, especially those in informal settlements and rural areas, have the challenges of no clean drinking water, no power and/or no food to feed their children on a daily basis.
Their infrastructure is often small and does not meet the stringent requirements of their local municipality. Their battle is about surviving on a daily basis, and alongside doing their very best to ensure the children are having age-appropriate stimulation and are following their curriculum (ideally play-based), they try to provide an environment that is as safe as possible.
We need municipal by-laws and regulations to be realistic and fair. We need to be supporting these small businesses (mostly women-led) so that they can flourish and grow, providing much-needed employment in their local community, alongside ensuring their community children are safe, well-fed, loved, nurtured and learning through play.
We need to do right by ECD owners principals, teachers and support staff who work extremely hard to do their best for the children in their centre, and we need to do right by the children. Young children in disadvantaged areas especially need to be in a quality-filled, loving ECD centre to ensure their developmental milestones are met, as often these cannot be met at home.
If their ECD centre is closed down because the centre does not have a hefty amount of money to pay the municipality, where do the children go?
ENDS.
