The Democratic Alliance (DA) implores the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to stop delaying and open up the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector as a matter of urgency.
The Minister has used every delay tactic in the book to ensure that the biggest portion of the ECD sector remains closed, the latest being not publishing a vital document that ECDs need to complete in order to reopen.
On Sunday, a ten-page pre-opening self-assessment to determine centres’ readiness to reopen was circulated with a two-week submission deadline ending on 5 July 2020.
Thereafter, the Department of Social Development (DSD) or a third party “may visit any early childhood development programme and/or partial care faciality that intends to re-open for an onsite assessment to verify whether it complies with the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures”.
The DA is of the view that the Minister put the cart before the horse by circulating the pre-opening self-assessment, as the document itself states that it cannot be completed without the DSD’s Standard Operating Procedures and Guidelines for Early Childhood Development Programmes and Partial Care Facilities on Covid-19 which was meant to be released yesterday, 23 June 2020, but was not.
This is the latest mishap in what seems to be a string of tactics used by the Department to delay the reopening of ECDs.
First, Minister Zulu waited two months before convening the very first consultative meeting with the ECD sector and government on 26 May 2020 to plot a way forward. Then, she launched the Vangasali: Every Child Counts campaign as part of Child Protection Week on 2 June 2020.
The DA has received numerous reports that the consultation process to reopen the sector has not been inclusive. One of the points of contention is a declaration that unregistered ECDs have to sign to commit to register within 6 months after reopening.
Many ECDs simply do not have the financial means to get all the necessary ducks in a row needed to register in such a short period of time. With the added financial pressure of reopening centres in a compliant matter, and the fact that these centres have had no income for 3 months, and no assistance from DSD or the government, the Minister’s regulations only succeed in ensuring that many centres will have to close their doors permanently leaving thousands upon thousands of children out in the cold.
Many young children are currently being taken care of by older siblings. This will not be the case when schools open for all grades on 6 July 2020. With parents at work, and older children in schools, children younger than five are vulnerable. This is especially infuriating as ECDs linked to schools are reopening, and once again shows that the Minister is completely out of touch with the realities of ordinary South Africans.
It is time for the Minister to let go of her agenda and truly take care of South Africa’s children. She must stop blocking the reopening of ECDs.
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