ECD; Remember the Kids but don’t Forget the Staff

For a man who’s been ducking slingshots and daggers of late, it must have come as a welcome respite for President Cyril Ramaphosa to take some time away from the hostility and mingle with an altogether receptive and bubblier crowd. In quintessentially Madiba-ish fashion the president got to hang out with the toddlers of the recently-built Little Flower early childhood development (ECD) centre in Bizana, Eastern Cape. 

By the president’s own account through his weekly missive to the nation, he “got to spend time with some of the future leaders of our country, reading to them and listening to them.” 

“The commitment of the ECD centre staff is so important because early childhood development centres play a pivotal role in the nation’s development,” wrote the President.

He went on to declare that his government “have taken up the task to improve the standards of care and make resources available for ECD centres to run suitable activities for young children to prepare them for formal education.” 

This was an opportune moment to visit some of these centres and see how they are faring in practical estimates. Jungle gyms, swings and the bright colours one would associate with a kiddies facility loomed large at Enkosi Pre-School. A long way this centre has come; starting out on the floors of the local community hall, run by arguably the longest-serving educator, Ms Sondlo in Kuyasa. You weren’t likely to see any desks or chairs back then and the kids always looked forward to going home early on account of some more important entity needing to make use of the township’s solitary hall.

Enkosi’s current lot don’t quite have it so lucky. Tiny desks, pigeon holes and well-thumbed books indicate that they are here to learn. Sitting cross-legged on the floor in another room a group of them are drawing – mostly stickmen – but the progress nonetheless is worthy of a gold star from Senior Practitioner, Ms Nozenza Tyindyi. She runs the show here, overseeing all 80 kids and the support staff. Dedicated, and have a love for their jobs but there are passing murmurs here and there about wages that really make it hard to smile sometimes.

Ever-smiling the Enkosi Pre-School lot

This is not an exception. In his letter, president Ramaphosa mentions how “in the [Bizana] center’s earliest days, staff struggled to get paid and yet still came to work.” Even for the most committed staff, not having remuneration benefits can be disheartening. Regardless, onward these women saints march; wiping runny noses, ensuring a meal for each child and tending to a garden that will feed everybody when the rains come.

Just around the corner from Enkosi is Sunrise Day Care. It is a bustle of 43 kids under the stewardship of Ms Yandiswa Mgoqi, a mother goose who doesn’t hesitate to frown when strange writers show up and ask questions about her gaggle. Sunrise is, to borrow from the President’s phrasing, clearly “also an important source of entrepreneurship and job creation.” eParkeni was able to notice at least three ladies in the place’s employ and a gardener, bent-back, raking something away. 

These places, the President tells us were mostly started as day-care facilities by women and no more than at our next stop could this have been more true. Kholeka Pongwana and Nomawethu Makhunza are a vivavious and enterprising duo. In a rented backroom on someone’s property, they take care of 32 kids on a daily basis. 

On a limited budget scraped together from the small fee that they charge people who need their services, they insist, “regardless what the books say, here we offer TWO meals a day.” Their charges are a mix bag of ages and both ladies are seasoned mothers who simply laugh at things like bathroom accidents.

Pongwana’s charges at play, albeit with negligible comforts

Previously under the Department of Social Development, since “April this year,” says Ramaphosa, “we completed the move of the ECD function…to the Department of Basic Education.” It would seem that in the more established facilities, the transition albeit not exactly smooth-running, is nonetheless something of a done deal. 

But for entrepreneurs like Pongwana and Makhunza whose funding comes mostly from the loyalty they’ve established in the community, some days are easier than others. Though they may have some toys, study material and a few couches for seating, in their minds they envision an ECD facility proper. All kitted out with colourful chairs, low-hanging desks, a few cushions whereon the kids can lie when watching the TV that the facility cannot yet afford. It would be nice if these facilities, for years tending to the needs of the community’s young could also benefit from all these great plans that the nation’s Commander in Chief has put forth. So too the problems with pay and the like.

In the meantime Pongwana’s kids could really do with some kid comforts, or sponges – whatever your own child would appreciate. Be a parent, call her! 063 9476 792. 

These two were on a mission – trying to cut class early

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