President Cyril Ramaphosa will today officially open the newly constructed Little Flower Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in Nkantolo in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality, Eastern Cape.

According to the Presidency, the centre had been operating for several years from an informal structure. 

The construction of the centre is part of the Vangasali campaign, which is a partnership between the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Department of Basic Education to enhance ECD service delivery in the country.

Phase 2 of the Vangasali campaign, which is ongoing, is aimed at standardising ECD registration across the country through the introduction of streamlined processes and a pathway to registration.

Meanwhile, Phase 3 of the Vangasali campaign is aimed at assisting ECD services which ordinarily will not be able to meet even the basic registration requirements in the absence of intervention.

“The partnership was born out of the need to focus on ECD in order to overcome the country’s development challenges.

“It was realised that lack of ECD provisioning is a major determinant of intergenerational poverty, and that this issue was cast as a soft issue rather than treated as urgent and fundamental to achieving a just and equitable society,” the Presidency said.

President Ramaphosa announced in 2018 during his State of the Nation Address that he would contribute half of his presidential salary to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The Presidency said this money was used for work on ECD, which demonstrates its importance.

Source: South African Government News Agency