SITE VISIT - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...
SITE VISIT - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...
SITE VISIT - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...
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media <strong>and</strong> distance educati<strong>on</strong>. Under white c<strong>on</strong>trol, two languages (English <strong>and</strong> Afrikaans)<br />
were the <strong>on</strong>ly official languages. Now there are eleven.<br />
4. Primary school advancement improved by ECD efforts. Evidence suggests that<br />
investment during the preschool years improves primary school advancement as well as lays<br />
down the foundati<strong>on</strong> for skills in c<strong>on</strong>flict resoluti<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> problem solving. In the mid-1980s<br />
the Department of Educati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> Training developed a bridging program as part of the first<br />
year of school which was government-funded <strong>and</strong> which effectively provided a year <strong>and</strong> in<br />
some cases two years of pre-primary educati<strong>on</strong> for children who need it. By 1992 the<br />
program involved some 400,000 pupils in 1,230 schools. The failure rate in the first year of<br />
primary school for these children was reduced from 21% to 3%.<br />
5. Some provinces worse off than others. While the whole of South Africa would benefit<br />
from improved circumstances, the provinces with the worse overall profiles in terms of<br />
quality of life <strong>and</strong> social development indicators including poverty levels, water supply <strong>and</strong><br />
nutriti<strong>on</strong> are the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal <strong>and</strong> the Northern Transvaal. The sec<strong>on</strong>d group<br />
of regi<strong>on</strong>s c<strong>on</strong>sidered in the worst shape are Orange Free State <strong>and</strong> Eastern Transvaal. When<br />
<strong>on</strong>e takes additi<strong>on</strong>al data to look at per capita educati<strong>on</strong> expenditure levels, teacher/pupil<br />
ratios, c<strong>on</strong>centrati<strong>on</strong>s of students in primary schools <strong>and</strong> primary school drop out rates, the<br />
provinces follow a similar pattern, almost invariably. Although blacks are the most<br />
disadvantaged overall, there are pockets of poverty, illiteracy <strong>and</strong> poor health in many<br />
colored communities.<br />
6. Government expenditure <strong>on</strong> ECD low to date. In 1993 about 30% of white children under<br />
seven had access to some form of preschool provisi<strong>on</strong> compared to 10.7% of black, colored<br />
<strong>and</strong> Indian children under seven. And looking at these figure, the overwhelming number of<br />
children in pre-school programs are white. Government expenditure <strong>on</strong> each black child was<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly R38 per year compared to R752 per colored child, R118 per Indian child <strong>and</strong> R1 684 per<br />
white child.<br />
7. Black parents pay for ECD services. Parents <strong>and</strong> caregivers with low literacy skills have<br />
large resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities to provide quality educati<strong>on</strong>al envir<strong>on</strong>ment for young children both in<br />
educare centers <strong>and</strong> at home. In most cases where educare is involved, parents pay for it<br />
themselves. About 80% of operati<strong>on</strong>al costs of educare services for black children comes<br />
from school fees paid by their parents. This acti<strong>on</strong> also indicates the value of childcare to<br />
poor South African families.<br />
8. Both adult learners <strong>and</strong> children need support. The data indicate the str<strong>on</strong>g rati<strong>on</strong>ale for<br />
ECD activities, both programs which target children <strong>and</strong> programs which target adult<br />
learners, as an interventi<strong>on</strong> to the high primary school drop-out rate, the high number of<br />
children out of school, <strong>and</strong> extensive health <strong>and</strong> nutriti<strong>on</strong> problems am<strong>on</strong>g large numbers of<br />
the pre-school <strong>and</strong> primary school populati<strong>on</strong>. The data str<strong>on</strong>gly indicates that ECD<br />
interventi<strong>on</strong>s must be directed as much to caregivers as to children, <strong>and</strong> must address<br />
illiteracy, low educati<strong>on</strong> levels <strong>and</strong> poor living c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />
9. Educati<strong>on</strong>al media for ECD around the world has been much more successful when it<br />
targets adult learners as well as children. Research around the world shows that media