Three Mitchell’s Plain educare teachers were empowered to invest in their young pupils holistically.
Mitchell’s Plain Educare Forum members Abubakr Fredericks, deputy chairwoman Soraya Abbas, and Pat Hawkins attended a one-day conference for early childhood teachers at Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital’s auditorium on Tuesday February 25.
The City of Cape Town hosted the programme to equip early childhood development (ECD) teachers with the knowledge and skills to implement effective and all-inclusive learning programmes.
Deputy chairwoman Soray Abbas said a new computerised registration system, also known as an ECD modernisation project, which would be the SAP system, to speed up registration procedures. SAP (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing) is a world famous Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system helping companies to manage their financials, logistics, human resources, and other business areas.
“Documents will not go missing or get lost because everything is scanned in. This will also serve as a good track record of previous applicants,” she said.
Ms Abbas said Wordworks, a non-profit organisation, that focused on early language and literacy development, had clearly done its homework to enthuse young readers.
Ronel Viljoen, chairwoman of the City’s portfolio committee for community services and health, said: “Their emotional, social and physical development has a direct effect on their overall growth. For this reason, the need to invest in young children is so important, so we can maximise their future well-being.”
The conference was hosted to equip ECD teachers with the skills and knowledge to implement effective and all-inclusive ECD learning programmes in line with national ECD norms and standards; build their capacity on topics that will aid their work; encourage development of innovative programmes; and create a platform for engagement on issues affecting the ECD sector.
Ms Viljoen said they wanted to encourage teachers to create an improved learning environment for the holistic development of all children and encourage the development of innovative programmes.
Mitchell’s Plain Educare Forum chairwoman, Valda Phillips, said it was high time parents thought of ECD centres as places where empowered teachers were moulding young minds.
The forum, includes representatives from about 90 ECD centres, who meet monthly to tackle various issues and attend workshops.
The next meeting will be at Beaconvale Community Care Centre for the Frail and Aged, on the corner of Pontiac and Rambler streets, in Beacon Valley, on Wednesday March 18 at noon.
For more information, call Ms Phillips on 021 374 5991 or 063 631 8138.