Improving ECD must be a national priority

The Herald

2 days ago

Sesame Workshop managing director Dr Onyinye Nwaneri said ECD was often mistakenly seen as a social welfare issue rather than a catalyst for long-term growth.
'It's an understandable, but flawed perception that underestimates the profound economic benefits that investment in ECD can bring,' she said.
SA faces a major access gap — more than a million children aged three to five are not enrolled in early learning programmes.
Citing global research, Nwaneri said that for every rand spent on ECD, returns of up to 13% could be expected.
'These returns come from improved educational performance, increased employment opportunities, higher lifetime earnings and reduced social costs,' she said.
Despite these benefits, SA allocates just 0.5% of its total government expenditure to early learning.
'This level of funding remains untenably low, and this will continue to limit the potential economic and social benefits that could be realised through more significant investment into the lives and development of SA's young children,' Nwaneri said.
She noted that targeted ECD investment could generate 670,000 new jobs and empower women, who make up 95% of the ECD workforce.
'Studies suggest that each new ECD position enables six to 10 other women to pursue employment because they have reliable childcare,' she said.
University of Johannesburg education expert Mary Metcalfe reinforced the urgency of the situation, highlighting the long-term consequences of poor foundational literacy.
'Children who cannot read for meaning by grade 4 fall further and further behind as the curriculum depends on the independent reading of text across all subjects,' she said, referencing the department of basic education's 2022 Systemic Evaluation, which found that only 20% of grade 3 pupils could read at the required level.
Metcalfe said inequality in early reading success mirrored systemic inequalities: overcrowded classrooms, a lack of reading materials and under-resourced teachers.
'While the department of basic education aims for a limit of 45 learners in a class, in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, more than 20% of grade 3 teachers reported having classes larger than 70.
'Only 46% of grade 3 children had language textbooks. Reading is not just about education; it's about justice and opportunity,' Metcalfe said.
She called for targeted funding, better teacher support and widespread access to books in home languages as non-negotiable priorities.
'Investment in improving literacy in the foundation years must be a national priority.
'This must go beyond broad declarations of intent and be visible in evidence-based planning aligned to realistic assessments of resource needs,' she said.
Both Nwaneri and Metcalfe argued that improving ECD and foundational literacy must be a national priority backed by strategic investment and public-private collaboration.
'This is not just the right thing to do socially, it's the smartest economic choice SA can make,' Nwaneri said.
This special report into the state of literacy, a collaborative effort by The Herald, Sowetan and Daily Dispatch, was made possible by the Henry Nxumalo Foundation