Social Development
Question by:
Hon Ricardo Mackenzie
Answered by:
Hon Albert Fritz
Question Number:
2
Question Body:
- Whether there is a policy that regulates the number of early childhood development centres (ECD centres) per area; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details and who monitors the implementation of this policy;
- whether his Department undertakes unannounced visits to ECD centres; if not, why not; if so, how many unannounced visits are undertaken monthly?
Answer Body:
- Although there are no specific policy that regulates the number of Early Childhood Development (ECD) facilities per area, ECD is regulated by the Children’s Act 38/2005 and National Integrated Policy for Early Childhood Development. The legislation does not limit registration of ECD facilities but does require a provisioning plan to ensure the equitable spread of facilities. The department has commenced with this plan and has completed the geo referencing/mapping of all registered and unregistered facilities. Currently the number of ECD facilities per area is determined by the need in terms of the number of children from 0 – 5 years in a particular area.
Although ECD facilities are informed about formal Monitoring and Quality Assurance to ensure that Board members and financial records are available, the Department of Social Development periodically undertakes unannounced visits to ECD facilities with an intention to monitor compliance with minimum norms and standards.
Date:
Friday, October 28, 2016
