Fifteen members of the National Assembly Select Committee on Education and Training recently ended a two-week long visit to Child Fund Affiliated ECD Centres in the Western Region.
Speaking to our reporter at the end of the tour, the Chairman of the National Assembly Select Committee on Education and Training, Honourable Sulayman Joof said his committee visited 25 ECD affiliated centres within Western Region.
According to him, the tour was due to the significant role ECD education plays in the development of the children. He added that ECD education improves child’s ability to do well in lower basic school.
On the social aspect of ECD education, Honourable Joof said it creates an enabling environment for children to learn and play, interact and co-operate.
Joof highlighted the importance of the ECD education, which he noted, helps to build communication skills for the development of the child.
On the ECD safety sides, Joof described the ECD centres as safe environments, where children are well looked after and protected from eminent harms during their tender age. He noted that some of the ECD centres visited have very good management styles, while others have health centres.
He stated that his committee had recommended networking between the ECD affiliated centres, and then called on the ECD communities to start generating funds for their ECD centres. This, he said, is necessary in case the project phase-out in their communities.
Apart from data collection, Honourable Joof lamented Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education’s (MoBSE) intervention is not satisfactory. He called on the Ministry to extend their supervisory role to the ECD affiliated schools across the country, make regular visits and give advises on what to do in the area of methodology.
