​As time draws closer to implementing the announcement of President Cyril Ramaphosa made in February 2019 during his State of the Nation Address that the Department of Basic Education will have technical oversight over the Early Childhood Development (ECD), the Gauteng Department of Social Development’s Sedibeng Region working with Gauteng Department of Education and municipalities on Monday, held a stakeholder engagement at Emerald Resort and Casino in Sedibeng, to brief all affected parties to ensure proper hand over, and to facilitate the process for the function shift.
Outlining the purpose of the engagement Social Work Manager, Nomfundo Kamolane, said “as everyone is aware that change sometimes brings anxiety and uncertainty, therefore, our aim is to engage with stakeholder who play a pivotal role in the foundation learning and the development of children about the change that is due to be effected. We also seek to provide clarity where there are concerns. It is important that we address the ECD practitioners’ fears and concerns with regards to migration”.

Kamolane urged everyone to engage and ask questions, so that they can have the same understanding of the ECD migration. She added that both the GDE and GDSD are committed to working together to ensure a smooth transition with no interruption to service delivery.

The Sedibeng District Municipality Health and Social Development Member of the Mayoral Committee,

Nkubi Mokoena, said early childhood development centres are the foundation of every developing society and pledged to support the work of ECD practitioners. However, Mokoena condemned all unregistered ECDs and called for immediate closure as these pose a danger to children. Mokoena urged those who want to run ECD centres to follow proper channels and operate legally.

Amongst the concerns raised by practitioners included whether the migration will affect their registration or compliance status and workers in the centres who do not have qualifications who only relied on experience. The migration of Early Childhood Development will allow for a standardised ECD function, to ensure structured learning in the sector, including a managed curriculum.

This means that the ECD curriculum will also be aligned to the CAPS curriculum. Secondly, the shifting of the function from DSD to DBE will allow the DBE to manage the educational journey of young children, from play-based learning to their final paper in Grade 12.

Furthermore, the move will provide an opportunity to improve access to quality early learning, to develop a publicly funded national ECD system.

Similar engagements have taken place in Johannesburg, West Rand and Ekurhuleni regions.