Dear Editor
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has confirmed that migration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres from the Department of Social Development has now been completed, after the responsibility was transferred in April this year.
This means that the Department will now be tasked with the regulating, supporting, and subsidising of programmes in this regard – a move that will allow childhood development to be better aligned with education. As such, the Standing Committee on Education will be inviting the WCED to brief us on the successes and challenges being felt in the ECD sector.
There are countless children across the country who do not receive critical developmental investment from a young age. This is why early childhood development, specifically the first 1 000 days of a person’s life, remains crucial to ensuring that a child has access to the necessary development that will aid them in realising opportunities later in their lives.
Currently, there are 1 613 certified ECD centres in the Western Cape and are financially supported by the WCED in order for them to carry out their operations. For this to take place, the respective organisations running the ECDs need to ensure that their banking details are updated. Whilst the payments for April 2022 were concluded on 12 May this year, there are still 104 ECD centres who have not updated their information.
As the DA, we would like to echo the sentiments of the WCED and implore on the outstanding institutions to confirm their correct details so that they can receive the funding they need to carry out this essential service.
Regards
Deidré Baartman, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education
