Ackermans’ contribution to ECD

Most Early Childhood Development (ECD) facilities in impoverished communities are insufficiently equipped, creating a challenge for educators and learners to fully use this vital period, when learners’ cognitive ability is most receptive to development.

The Ackermans Ububele Schools Programme aims to address the imbalance of access to quality ECD in South Africa. According to the findings of Statistics South Africa’s General Household Survey 2016, there were close to 7.2 million children aged nought to six in South Africa. Of these, 47% of children living in poor South African communities do not attend an educational institution.

From 2015 to 2017, Ackermans partnered with expert ECD organisations to pilot a supplementary programme at 13 Western Cape schools that included pre-Grade R and Grade R classes.

The main objective of the programme is to improve the quality of ECD by instilling an appreciation of the value of telling stories to aid the development of language and imagination. Feeding the minds of children develops abstract thought, a critical tool for literacy and numeracy learning.

The programme aims to support the development of teaching practices in schools, and parents’ participation in the educational development of their children at home.

CSI EDUCATION

During 2018, 36 new schools and ECD centres in Durban and Cape Town were
incorporated into the Ububele Schools Programme after the initial three-year pilot
project.