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ELRU Champions Early Childhood Development, Calls For Urgent Investment To Bridge The Education Gap
As a pioneer in ECD, ELRU aligns its mission with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 1 (No Poverty), and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasized the crucial role of ECD in shaping the future of South Africa. “Through an enhanced focus on ECD, the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act will help ensure that young children are better prepared for formal schooling. Early Childhood Development plays a critical role in developing early literacy, early numeracy, and social-emotional skills during an important time in a child’s cognitive development,” stated Ramaphosa.
“These critical issues all boil down to a lack of funding. To turn this situation around, we need donors and funders to partner with us to change the status quo,” urges Tracy Fortune, Director of ELRU. “ELRU’s holistic approach, combined with a commitment to promoting access, quality, and innovation, ensures that we remain a leader in shaping the future of early childhood education.”
Effective centre management practices are critical in creating high-quality learning environments at ECD centres. ELRU’s Centre Support Programme (CSP) provides ECD centre principals and practitioners with the training and tools necessary for sound governance, leadership, and operational best practices.
Within the CSP the key trainings are Finance; Leadership; Governance; and the Site Learning Programme (SLP). Together, these trainings equip ECD centre principals and practitioners with the skills needed to manage centres effectively and provide quality early learning experiences.
The CSP is a one-year implementation initiative currently funded by Coronation Fund Managers and is operational in Crossroads, Gugulethu and Nyanga in Cape Town.
Nwabisa Manana, principal at Nosiseko Educare Centre in Gugulethu shares their success story as a result of this programme, “I am very proud to say today I am a competent Practitioner through ELRU’s trainings. As soon as I started to be able to understand all the ELDAs (Early Learning and Development Areas) and aims that underpin the NCF (National Curriculum Framework) and implement all the learnings it helped me a lot. The method that our facilitator is doing, to share what we have learnt after every session and also to recap before a new session, it worked very well for me because I was telling myself in these learnings and also recapping I have to grab everything from the discussions and put it into practise.
That really helped me and I have grown a lot and my classroom is no longer chaotic as it used to be, because planning is what I love and enjoy doing, after I have learnt how to plan. I did all these things at the college but I didn’t understand it fully as we were just reading the books at our trainings. With ELRU, everything is practical so it is much easier to understand. I am no longer struggling to plan play-based activities. I appreciate the work that ELRU is doing in our communities. Keep up the good work”.
ELRU calls on stakeholders, philanthropists, corporate partners, and government bodies to support ECD initiatives, ensuring that every child has a strong foundation for lifelong learning and success.
For more information on ELRU’s programmes and how to get involved, visit www.elru.co.za or email: reception@elru.co.za or contact 021 762 7500.
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https://www.linkedin.com/company/81987382/admin/page-posts/published/
https://www.youtube.com/@earlylearningresourceunit/videos
Caregiver Learning Through Play (CLTP) Programme Video:
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