Putting children first: What can South Africa learn from other countries?

HANDS-ON Experience Learning June 2024 | Issue 27

OPPORTUNITY

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StopGive nutritional every child stunting the of young benefit children. of early childhood development

OPPORTUNITY

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Stop nutritional stunting of young children

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Make sure every child is ready to read and do maths by the time they go to school

PUTTING CHILDREN FIRST: WHAT CAN SOUTH AFRICA LEARN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES? Early childhood development (ECD) is one of the most powerful levers to unlock South Africa’s potential and is recognised by government as a national priority. Yet the first nationally representative survey of pre-school children, Thrive by Five, found that 57% of children attending early learning programmes (ELPs) are not on track to meet normative development milestones (such as socio-emotional, cognitive and physical development) by age five.1 Skills beget skills, which means that the rate of return on investments in older children is determined by the size of investment in younger children.

This learning brief takes stock of South Africa’s ECD landscape and explores what we can learn from countries facing similar predicaments.

1

Giese, S., Dawes, A., Tredoux, C., Mattes, F., Bridgman, G., van der Berg, S., Schenk, J. and Kotzé, J. 2022. Thrive by Five Index Report Revised August 2022, Innovation Edge, Cape Town. https://thrivebyfive.co.za