'Lack of political will hindering early childhood development'

THE most pressing issue facing early childhood development in South Africa is the lack of political will by the government to meet the needs of young children.

- EDWIN LOMBARD

This was said by Professor Eric Atmore, director of the Centre for Early Childhood Development, on the back of a stakeholder engagement recently held at LaMotte in Franschhoek.

Atmore said linked to this is the very low budget allocation for programmes to support young children in their early development, especially for early learning programmes.

The engagement, which was hosted by the Inceba Trust, an organisation on a mission “to prepare preschool children in body, mind and soul for a future filled with hope, confidence and courage”.

Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg, founder of the Inceba Trust said their overarching goal is to support Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres to facilitate environments where children can flourish, so they are learning-ready when they reach Grade R.

“To achieve this, Inceba Trust and our network of stakeholders run programmes to support ECD centres, caregivers, parents and communities in the Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa.”