Pretoria, 28 May 2001
Director of Ceremonies
Distinguished Guests
Children, Mothers and Fathers,
It gives me great pleasure to announce the Early Childhood Development White Paper and the Report on the Nationwide Audit of ECD provisioning in South Africa.
When I participated in the launch of UNICEF’s report on ‘The State of the World’s Children - 2001’, I was struck by the simplicity, yet the importance of the message and Call to Action in the report. Among others the report observes that millions of mothers and fathers around the world, in both industrialised and developing countries, share the same story: finding and making time, investing energies and stretching resources to provide for their sons and daughters. That the days of these mothers and fathers are consumed in helping their children grow strong and healthy, protecting, teaching, guiding, encouraging their talents and channelling their curiosity, delighting in their enthusiasm and their accomplishments. That they search for advice and counsel from informal support networks and community agencies as they struggle, often against great odds, to do right by their children.
It is to this challenge and Call to Action that our Government through our White Paper on Early Childhood Development speaks and exhorts us all to join hands, beginning at conception of each child, through birth and beyond, to nurture our children, help them become productive citizens and, through them, develop our human resources throughout life.
White Paper is a powerful signal of triumph and hopefulness
As you will notice, today we announce the first ever, and comprehensive, policy and programme on early childhood development, that encompasses a national programme of pre-school Reception Year education for 5 year-olds, and a national strategy for early childhood development from birth to four years. It is through the policies and programmes outlined in this White Paper that we must lay the early foundations of our post-apartheid, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist society.
Importantly, our policies and programmes on early childhood development outlined in this White Paper provide a long-term plan until 2008 for building an early childhood development system of which we can be proud. For, it is now, after taking four years to recover from provincial over-expenditure spending, that we are better placed to lay solid foundations for a new system. The commitment of a conditional grant of R195 million for our Grade R programme over the next three years, over and above current provincial expenditure, bears testimony to better financial planning and management, and that our policies are firmly linked to budgets and implementation. Building the new system will also require investment through training in the thousands of new educators who will be recruited over the next several years. Accordingly it would be improper to pretend that we can establish overnight a new Grade R programme without adequate preparation.
In the White Paper on Early Child hood Development we commit ourselves:
National Audit of ECD
In preparation for the development of the ECD policy outlined in the White Paper, we conducted a Nation-wide Audit of ECD Provisioning. This Audit is the first comprehensive record and source of information about ECD provisioning in the country. The Audit report contains information on sites, learners, educators and programmes, these constitute the main broad areas of ECD provisioning and the information enables us to establish an Early Childhood Development system based on verified facts.
Consultations and pilot studies informed policy
Today we celebrate the culmination of the government’s efforts and contributions, in partnership with you that we have exerted since 1996. The ECD White Paper therefore, is Government’s expression of commitment to respond to the needs of our nation’s children. It shows how we will assume this responsibility and role. It must be noted education is but one of the most significant aspects of a child’s development, the social and physical development are crucial components that are addressed in partnership with the Departments of Health and Social Development and the Office of the Presidency.
This White Paper on Early Childhood Development therefore follows the Interim Policy for Early Childhood Development of 1996 and the subsequent ECD National Pilot Project that was the basis for testing our interim policy. It also follows upon the results of the Nation-wide Audit and the discussions I held with our ECD social partners during my consultations in my first month as the Minister of Education.
Underlying these processes were intense consultations, collaboration and co-operation within various government departments, with civil society organisations, practitioners, individual experts, Resource and Training Organisations and the majority of institutions, programmes and processes in the ECD sector. The planning, research and consultation process was thus rigorous, comprehensive and thorough.
Some highlights of the White Paper
Against this background I would like to highlight a few aspects of the ECD White Paper.
The rationale of the ECD White Paper is based on the universally accepted assumption that Early Childhood Development is much more than simply providing early learning opportunities for young learners. Therefore Early Childhood Development (ECD) is defined as an umbrella term that applies to the processes by which children from birth to nine years grow and thrive, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, morally and socially.
You will agree with me that this definition of ECD is quite comprehensive, and that it would be over ambitious for me to say that my Ministry will address all these aspects of early childhood development with an equal intensity of resources. Logic, reality and common sense dictated that we had to prioritise these aspects and target them differently.
Thus, the main priority addressed in this White Paper, is the introduction of an accredited Reception Year programme for children aged 5 years into a national system of provision. The White Paper outlines how the newly established ECD Conditional Grant will assist to achieve this, with strong poverty alleviation focus, beginning in Government’s integrated rural and urban development nodes with community-based ECD centres. Once fully established in our primary schools, which already accommodates about 180,000 children in Grade R, and selected community-based ECD centres, the Reception Year will give effect to our constitutional obligation of providing 10 years of basic education for all our children.
Establishing our Grade R within the public system in this manner is informed by the lessons learnt in the pilot programme. Public schools provide the basic human and physical infrastructure for us to establish a high quality Grade R, while community-based ECD centres have the potential to provide a programme of similar quality. Our target is that eventually all public primary schools and about 4,500 community-based ECD centres will together provide Grade R.
In respect of these selected community-based centres, we will provide them with a full curriculum package, including materials and equipment, but will require that their practitioners obtain an accredited qualification on level 4 of the NQF that will enable them to implement ECD programmes for children from birth to 5 years old. We will also require them to be registered with the South African Council of Educators.
Age of admission into Grade R
Beginning in 2002, learners who are five years old will be eligible to be enrolled in Grade R, in public and independent programmes. In our case, public provision will begin in the 18 rural and urban development nodes, and be expanded over the next seven years be expanded to cover 80 per cent of all children.
ECD for children at birth to four years
The focus of our programmes for children from birth to five years old will be on developing:
We will also work closely with the Ministries of Social Development, Health, Office of the President, and other government departments to put in place more effective strategies on the provision of safe water and sanitation, nutrition and health, social development services and the safety of learners.
Conclusion
These then are just some of the highlights contained in the White Paper on ECD. Finally, since 2001 is the year of the reader and I exhort you to read the ECD White Paper and the Audit of ECD Provisioning. This brace of documents provide a conceptual, planning and implementation base and is destined to have a significant impact on the lives of our young children and on our nation.
In conclusion I want to acknowledge our social partners in the Early Childhood Development sector for your consistent action and commitment within the context of ‘Tirisano’, - working together. A special thanks go to the European Commission without whom our national pilot project would not have been possible. I wish also to commend the thousands of mamas and gogos who provided us with early care and who continue to offer their services to our children and our nation. This White Paper is also an affirmation of your contribution and how we intend to work with you to improve our services.
With this White Paper on Early Childhood Development, we bring to a close the decadent and immoral philosophy of apartheid towards education. Through it we bring also hope to the many mothers who will, when it is fully implemented, be freed to play a more active role in family, community, national and economic development.
I thank you all. Siyabonga.