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Maturity of child starts in early life

HAPPY KIDS: Children need to be nurtured in a properly run and organised early childhood development sector to thrive into becoming South Africa's well-adjusted and highly productive future leaders. © Sowetan.
HAPPY KIDS: Children need to be nurtured in a properly run and organised early childhood development sector to thrive into becoming South Africa's well-adjusted and highly productive future leaders. © Sowetan.

Victor Mecoamere

Victor Mecoamere

Early childhood development is more than education and training, Pam Picken, the director of respected ECD resources and training organisation (Tree), said in Durban recently.

Picken told a stellar gathering at the first of nine provincial award ceremonies of the Absa and Sowetan Early Childhood Development Awards that South Africa would miss the opportunity of nurturing well-adjusted and highly productive citizens if ECD was given scant national regard.

The awards' other nation-building partners are SABC Education, SA Congress for ECD (Sacecd), Office of the Rights of Children in the Presidency (ORC) and the Department of Education.

"Learning should be fun and 80 percent of children's wholesome development has to take place in their early, formative years, essentially between birth and six years, and pitifully ECD receives meagre funding," Picken said.

The following people and ECD centres and organisations were honoured:

l ECD practitioners - Free State's Lindiwe Khweshiwe, Ipeleng Khumateka and Cathline Goodman and KwaZulu-Natal's Thobile Phakathi, Phendukile Ngcobo and Joyce Zwane;

l Community-based ECD Centres - Free State's Kananelo Day Centre, Lehae La Bana and Mogorosi Day Care Centre and KwaZulu-Natal's Inkanyiso Creche, Ethembeni Creche and White City Creche;

l Home-based ECD Centres - Free State's Kgadisho Day Care Centre, Genazareth Day Care Centre and The Light Care Centre and KwaZulu-Natal's Gandhi Nagar Educare Centre, Safe and Sound Pre-School and Lungisani Indlela Creche; and

l ECD resources and training centres - Free State's Lesedi Edu-Care, Ntsoanatsatsi Edu-Care Trust and Tsepang Centre and KwaZulu-Natal's Wonderkids Montessori and Kids paradise Training Centre.

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