Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members of the House and distinguished guests, good morning. The ANC government's position on early childhood development is a developmental approach emphasising the need for universal access and the strengthening of the capacity of the state to deliver quality, affordable and sustainable ECD services.
There is no doubt that early childhood development plays an important role in developing the basic cognitive skills for the future successful learning of the child. Research proves that children who have undergone ECD stand a better chance to progress in later years. Therefore, ECD remains the basic foundation for learning. Furthermore, research shows that a high dropout rate and failure in grades have a direct link to a lack of access to ECD in the formative years of the child.
The National Development Plan: Vision 2030 prioritises ECD and clearly identifies the areas to be focused on.
What is to be done to take the ECD sector forward? Firstly, it requires government to address the co-ordination weaknesses and institutional framework of ECD, and it requires government to clarify the roles and responsibilities between national, provincial and local government, as well as NGOs and the private sector. Secondly, we need to encourage innovation in the way early childhood development services are delivered. How can home- based, community-based and centre-based programmes be expanded? Thirdly, state funding for early childhood development should be improved. Funding the programmes and services at an appropriate level is key.
In addition, adherence to norms and standards for ECD will facilitate the provision of a quality service to children. Finally, there should be investment in the training of ECD practitioners and upgrading of their qualifications and careers. One training package will not cater for the range of needs of children. Therefore, we need a tiered-up or a step training system which caters for the needs of ECD workers with little or no basic education to a mid-level training level and through to tertiary-level training.
Three initiatives pertaining to ECD took place in 2011-12, namely the review of the National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development, the Diagnostic Review of Early Childhood Development and the Early Childhood Development Conference. The aim of the set processes was to review ECD service provisioning, co-ordination and implementation in terms of children in the birth to four years of age cohort in South Africa.
The ECD programme was identified as one of the apex priorities that were indicated by the government as areas that need special strategies and additional funding. The national Integrated Early Childhood Development Programme of Action: Moving Ahead 2013 to 2018 addresses some of these challenges through the proposed 10-point agenda for ECD in South Africa. The challenges were identified as follows: to develop a new ECD policy framework that will provide a legal basis for the state to fully support; to define service packages for various age groups; to establish an effective service delivery model that is based on state support for a strong cadre of community workers from health, social development and the NGO community; the service delivery model should adopt a range of mechanisms for reaching young children, including, but not limited to, home- based, community-based and centre-based mechanisms; to establish a central agency or mechanism to provide leadership and to ensure adequate regulation, capacity development, funding and co-ordination; to establish funding norms and standards for differentiated services and models; to develop and implement an integrated infrastructure policy strategy; to develop and implement an advocacy communication and social mobilisation strategy.
In conclusion, thousands of our children who were previously excluded from ECD now have access to it. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. Thank you, Chair. [Applause.]