Stakeholders in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector call for simplification of the regulatory system
Cape Town - Stakeholders have called for a simplified regulatory system for the early childhood development (ECD) sector, and the removal of complex redtape.
Pre-school principals, activists and researchers point out that the pandemic had aggravated the barriers to accessing early learning in South Africa, with informal micro-subsistence-based enterprises being worst hit. One of the main problems is that significant amounts of money is required for ECD centres to get compliance approval.
Mildred Bopoto, a pre-school principal at Ikamva Labantu said the root of the problem stemmed from building regulation requirements and funding because centres have to be be zoned at the Land Use Management Department.
She said that if a centre started operating prior to being zoned or approved at a specific location as an ECD centre, it faced being fined for operating illegally. Additionally, once zoning is in place, the ECD centre has to submit its building plans for approval and this can take anywhere between three months to over a year.
As this does not deter new centres from opening, she said, that it sometimes results in children attending centres that may not be structurally safe due to the lengthy approval processes.
The 2021 ECD Census states that 27% of funding of Early Learning Programmes (ELPs) comes from government. ECD Resource Hub Manager at the DG Murray Trust Kayin Scholtz, said that the per-child-per-day subsidy reached a minority of early learning programmes, and the value of the subsidy was too low for the onerous registration requirements that ELPs faced.
“Norms and standards for the ECD sector are drawn from The Children’s Act Regulations, the National Health Act norms and standards and local by-laws. These regulations are convoluted, at times contradictory, and often inappropriate and can lead to challenges such as ELPs in informal settlements being required to have space for parking outside their premises, or costly zoning fees.
“Registration is particularly challenging for those who operate out of private dwellings, or whose ELPs exist on undeclared land. People who run ELPs have to make significant personal effort and contributions in order to be registered, however, there is rarely any state support for registration hence it very difficult for ELPs operating on very thin margins, to generate enough capital to invest in their programmes in order to be registered,” said Scholtz.
Director of the Centre for Early Childhood Development, Eric Atmore added that If these challenges continued then ECD centres will not be able to offer quality learning environm to communities, parents, and children.
“A viable solution to the challenges is for the Mayor of Cape Town to lead the way by establishing a quality team of early childhood development experts from amongst the non-profit sector to guide the City in reducing the bureaucracy and unnecessary compliance requirements and related charges. The ECD non-profit sector is ready and able to support our city in this way,” said Atmore.