{"id":5986,"date":"2021-03-09T18:45:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T18:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?p=5986"},"modified":"2021-03-09T17:55:40","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T17:55:40","slug":"devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent","title":{"rendered":"Devastating lockdown impact on ECDs may be permanent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Based on an average of 50 kids per centre, it\u2019s estimated 250 to 350 children had been left out of Early Childhood Development (ECD), according to Afrika Tikkun, a non-profit youth development organisation.<\/p>\n

Afrika Tikkun chief executive Alef Meulenberg said the past year had been extremely hard for the ECD sector. He said 10% of the 50 to 70 pre-schools the organisation worked with had closed permanently.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on an average of 50 kids per centre, we estimate 250 to 350 children have been left stranded in our circle alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat may not seem like a lot, but if you extrapolate this over the thousands of registered and unregistered preschools in South Africa, a number that could be as high as 1 784 as stated in a report by the University of Johannesburg. 1784 centres may have closed since March last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meulenberg added that based on 50 pupils per school, this may have affected 89 200 boys and girls. He also stressed the far-reaching consequences and impact this would have had on the children\u2019s development and overall chances in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cA child\u2019s first thousand days are critical to his or her emotional, mental, and physical development and quality. ECD services play a crucial role in this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meulenberg said apart from ECD\u2019s being the platform where children learnt through play, it was also essential in the overall development and cognitive skills. In South Africa, ECD services have a strong and often vital nutrition component.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot having access to enough nutritious food in your earliest years causes learning and development delays later,\u201d Meulenberg said, referring to scientific research that showed young adults who were stunted as young children were more likely to drop out of school and remain unemployed than counterparts who had enough to eat. \u201cAt the moment, 30% of children are stunted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The R496 million in relief funding would go a long way, the chief executive said.<\/p>\n

Of the R496 million received by National Treasury, R53 million has been earmarked to support ECD programmes and services in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n

The Early Childhood Development Employment Stimulus Relief Fund is part of sustainable employment opportunities in the sector in light of the high unemployment rate and job losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Based on an average of 50 kids per centre, it\u2019s estimated 250 to 350 children had been left out of Early Childhood Development (ECD), according to Afrika Tikkun, a non-profit youth development organisation. Afrika Tikkun chief executive Alef Meulenberg said the past year had been extremely hard for the ECD sector. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-5986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nDevastating lockdown impact on ECDs may be permanent - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Based on an average of 50 kids per centre, it\u2019s estimated 250 to 350 children had been left out of Early Childhood Devel ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Devastating lockdown impact on ECDs may be permanent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Based on an average of 50 kids per centre, it\u2019s estimated 250 to 350 children had been left out of Early Childhood Devel ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-09T18:45:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/img-6047b68285ad9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Devastating lockdown impact on ECDs may be permanent\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T18:45:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent\"},\"wordCount\":376,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/img-6047b68285ad9.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/devastating-lockdown-impact-on-ecds-may-be-permanent\",\"name\":\"Devastating lockdown impact on ECDs may be permanent - 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