Report decries slow progress in early childhood education

A new report has decried the slow progress being made in providing quality education for early learners aged eight years and below.

The report of the National Early Childhood Stakeholders’ Conference, whose contents will be shared at an international conference to start in Nairobi Tuesday, says most children in early childhood centres are attending classrooms that are crowded, with some going hungry due to poverty in most homes.

Counties, according to the report, are yet to provide adequate numbers of teachers for the early learners.

According to the report titled Accelerating Early Childhood Development Through Partnerships dated July 2018, counties are facing challenges in expanding early childhood learning centres due to inadequate land and lack of full commitment by leaders to expand the schools.

MAJOR GAPS

“There are major gaps in coordination of this devolved ECDE function with shortage of funds and teachers hindering the successful implementation of high-quality, affordable (early childhood) programmes across the country,” the report says.

All governors’ wives from Kenya are among the 500 government and policy makers from Africa who are expected to attend the meeting at the Safari Park Hotel.

Recently, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed announced that each primary school will establish an ECDE centre to provide enough vacancies for the early learners.

PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT

“Since the moral fabric of society could not be attained purely by a curriculum, parental engagement (in child development) is a key component in the competence-based curriculum,” the report says.

The report cites the building the capacity of the caregivers as an essential component of a child’s brain development.

According to the report, the learners considered under the new curriculum by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development were aged four years and above, meaning that those under the age of four years belonged to day care centres or the home.