Things have been rather quiet on the policy front over the past fortnight. However, the many ECD role players have been quietly and steadily carrying on with the business of ECD. This week’s policy shares a few policy initiatives with a bearing on ECD as well as some examples of recent programmes and projects.
Draft National Sanitation Policy published for comment
The Department of Water and Sanitation has published a draft Water and Sanitation policy for public comment, which builds on previous policies governing the provision of water and sanitation services. The intention is fill gaps and address previous inadequacies, as well as clarify roles and responsibilities across departments, as well as the different levels of government – national, provincial and local.
What is of concern is that the policy, despite seeking to align with and further national priorities, does not highlight the link between improved access to sanitation, the achievement of national ECD goals and ultimately overarching national and Sustainable Development Goals. Under the principles, the policy recognises the universal right of all to basic sanitation. However, contrary to the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and the National Development Plan, does not recognise the immediacy and urgency of the right, and the need for prioritisation of access for children, especially the youngest children – not only is sanitation a guaranteed right for children, but of particular importance to their survival and development given that poor sanitation is a leading cause of many avoidable child deaths in South Africa. Equally problematic then is the policy’s limited prioritisation of services for “vulnerable people and unserved households” and its failure to expressly require and mandate prioritisation of sanitation services for young children.
DBE publishes a National School Safety Framework
The DBE has launched a National School Safety Framework (NSSF) – an “all-inclusive strategy to guide the national department as well as the provincial education departments in a coordinated effort” to take all necessary steps to create a safe and supportive learning environment in all schools. The focus of the NSSF is on managing the very high levels of violence that are a feature of schools across the country. To this end, “the overall aim of the Framework is to create a safe, violence and threat-free, supportive learning environment for learners, educators, principals, school governing bodies and administration.”
The NSSF is a comprehensive document that is meant to guide schools, districts, provinces and national government – to “ensure a common understanding of, and approach to, school safety.” It is thus made of different parts. Part A provides a conceptual framework for a common approach and part B is made up of a manual and implementation tools. The NSSF covers all forms of violence, including bullying, cyber violence, xenophobia, homophobia, corporal punishment and sexual and gender-based violence.
The NSSF adopts an ecological approach to achieving its objectives and thus places a big emphasis on prevention of violence through primary, secondary and tertiary interventions. It is in the context of prevention that ECD features strongly in the strategy. The NSSF promotes the adoption, resourcing and implementation of interventions that would “prevent and violent or criminal behaviour before it occurs… [including] the provision of early childhood development services and parent-skills training”.
DBE forges ahead to strengthen the quality of foundation phase teaching
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has implemented a programme for strengthening the quality of learning and teaching in the foundation phase (Grade R -1). The rationale for the focus on the foundation phase is explained by the Director of LTSM Policy Development and Innovation, Ms Kulula Manona, as follows: “The Foundation Phase lays the foundations for further learning. It therefore makes sense that we target this phase, particularly when one considers the range of materials and components used in this phase.”
The focus of the initiative is to strengthen the use, by foundation phase teachers, of Learning and Teaching Support Materials. The DBE has developed Guidelines for the Utilisation of LTSM. The Guidelines seek to “show teachers in a user-friendly and engaging way, how they could make the best use of their textbooks and other teaching and learning materials.” The DBE trained 61 Foundation Phase Subject Advisors from across the nine provinces in the use of the Guidelines, with the aim of providing systemic support for improving the use of LTSM in the Foundation Phase.
The Subject Advisors will be part of a National Core Training Team which will train Foundation Phase teachers in all the provinces.
“We are grateful to provinces for their support. This collaboration is critical because it will culminate in this training being used to the benefit of learners in the classroom,” remarked Ms Manona. She also reminded the subject advisers of the Read to Lead Campaign, which was launched to cultivate a culture of reading. Ms Manona emphasised to the Subject Advisers what the campaign aims to achieve and what role they can play in realising this objective.
Read more here.
DBE launches a national school deworming programme
On 16 February 2016, the DBE joined hands with the Departments of Health and Social Development, as well as development partners Johnson and Johnson and the World Health Organisation to launch the National School Deworming Programme at Zimasa Community School in Cape Town.
The Programme, which will reach over 6 million learners from Grade R to 7 in quintiles 1-3 primary schools, is part of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). It aims to “improve children’s health, reduce health barriers to learning and assist learners to stay in school and to receive quality education. The Programme further intends to promote attitudes and behaviours that will positively impact on the current and future health of learners.”
Children are very often infected by worms (soil-transmitted helminths), and if the condition is not reversed, it can cause serious illness and development delays, and impacts negatively on children’s nutritional well-being and school performance.
The programme is an essential component of the Integrated School Health Programme, and in line with the ISHP’s strategic approach, provides a combination of:
- Health education – including information on the type of worms, the way in which transmission takes place and the prevention measures that can be taken;
- Hand washing integrated into the workbooks;
- Regular deworming of children in schools; and
- The provision of adequate sanitation and safe water
Read more here.
DSD provides ECD through Community Care Centres in under-served rural communities
On 26 February 2016, the DSD handed over the first of 18 Community Care Centres in Charlestown in KwaZulu-Natal.
DSD will be working with the German Development Bank to build a further 17 centres in three provinces, KZN, Limpopo and the North West province. They represent a new model of integrated one-stop-shop services for vulnerable families and children. The centres are made up of different facilities, including early childhood development services; youth and skills development programmes; clinic facilities; a library; a computer lab; private rooms for counselling and support; activity rooms for youth clubs and pensioner clubs; a food garden; a playground, and an amphitheatre to allow for demonstrations; educational talks and will even serve as a stage for artists to perform for the community.
Read more here.
The Policy Post is written by Patricia Martin, the director of Advocacy Aid, a consultancy that provides advocacy support to the development sector. Patricia has worked as a child rights advocate and policy analyst for more than a decade and has a special interest in ECD policy and programme development and monitoring.
