Early childhood education in post apartheid South Africa : stakeholder involvement, policy initiatives and implementation.
| dc.contributor.author | Phiri, Boniface John | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2010-03-04T10:08:25Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2010-03-04T10:08:25Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010-03-04T10:08:25Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | In most poor countries, children grow up without quality education. In addition, human development, which needs to be expanded, is also lacking. These challenges mostly facing poor countries are also characteristic of middle income countries such as South Africa where illiteracy levels especially among the black communities tend to be high against the background that per capita income is relatively higher than in most poor countries. The high illiteracy levels in South Africa can be linked to the absence of ECE policies in the apartheid era. As such, this calls for comprehensive ECE policies. In recognition of this fact, the government has prioritised provision of ECE services for five year olds through Grade R. However, the 0-4 year age group remains ignored and left in the hands of independent and community providers. Access to ECE services by children in rural areas also remains low despite government efforts to reach out to vulnerable and poor children. This challenge undermines efforts to reduce poverty which in most cases is passed on from poor parents to poor children who grow up deprived and without life skills, perpetuating the poverty cycle. It is important then to consider effective models of providing ECE services in order to break the poverty cycle and build human capabilities to realise widespread benefits of development. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10539/7617 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.title | Early childhood education in post apartheid South Africa : stakeholder involvement, policy initiatives and implementation. | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |