How Policy Affects Early Childhood Care and Development.

3. There is a lack of knowledge about what happens to children who are not in registered child
care and preschool programmes, and what happens for children when they are not attending
child care, preschool or lower primary school.
Therefore, it is recommended that:
a study be undertaken to more completely document the situation and needs of young children.
4. There are well-developed Preschool Curriculum Guidelines for children 4-6 years of age. There
is no equivalent curriculum guideline for children under the age of four.
Therefore it is recommended that:
comprehensive, integrated Curriculum Guidelines be developed for children from birth to six years of age
that interface with the Primary School Curriculum.
5. ECD planning and practice must rest on a comprehensive and integrated data base. At the
present time there is no comprehensive data bank on ECD needs and provision. It is important to
have a better understanding of needs as related to provision.
Therefore, it is recommended that:
the Ministry of Health, through additions to their Home-based Child Health Card, collect relevant data
on children 0-4.
Further, it is recommended that:
the Ministry of Education maintain responsibility for the data base for children aged 4-9. Agencies
providing services to this age group should channel their data to this Ministry.
Further, it is recommended that:
data for target groups like immigrant children should be collected by the Ministry of Home Affairs and
channelled to the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education for the respective age group.
6. A cornerstone of effective early childhood programmes internationally is parent and
community involvement in all aspects of the programme. The study revealed that this is lacking
in most programmes.
Therefore it is recommended that:
the concept of parent involvement be broadened to a concept of parent participation which respects and
strengthens the parent's role in the child's development and establishes linkages between the home, early
childhood programmes and children's transition into the primary school.
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