| Current Education policy within South Africa is that children attend school from January in the year of their seventh birthday. There is thus a substantial pre-school period. In poor urban communities parents have neither the time nor the resources to properly nurture their children for 7 years. There are an increasing number of single parent families, most of whom are in a constant struggle for economic survival. Health is also a problem, particularly in informal settlements.
In years gone by the public authorities, NGOs and even the private sector invested in the construction and operation of well-equipped pre-schools. This is no longer the case because such facilities have proved to be unsustainable by the communities themselves, and the funding available to NGOs has diminished substantially. Most childcare is now undertaken by community-based structures or within homes - a situation that is unlikely to change.
The iSLP Early Childhood Programme is designed to create six regional Early Childcare Enrichment Centres, each of which will contain a model pre-school, a training room and a resource library, and which will be a base for an extensive outreach programme to everyone involved in childcare in the region.
The premises will be built by the City of Cape Town on land given to them at no charge by the Province, and the building costs will be financed by the iSLP. The iSLP will fund the operating costs for 3-5 years. The operation is to be undertaken by NGOs, probably in association. Part of the brief is that the operator raise funds to sustain and replicate the
programme. An operator was appointed in April
2001.
As at 30 June 2002,
the first Enrichment Centre is under construction
and tenders have been received for the
construction of the remaining four new centres.
An exisiting facility will be renovated to provide
the sixth centre. |
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