Various businesses and government stakeholders in the Cape Winelands have come together to train thousands of early childhood development practitioners to create more job opportunities.
According to IOL, the ECD training campaign could benefit over 30 000 children that live in the Cape Winelands by 2025.
“We believe the majority of South African children may never reach their full potential as a direct result of poverty and lack of adequate nutrition, health and education,” says founder and chairman Andre Shearer.
Shearer witnessed low ranges of entry to high-quality early care and ECD programmes, reports News Chant. He believes that high-quality ECD may break the cycle.
The curriculum relies on 110-year-old Montessorian schooling rules which is Southern Africa’s sole training centre accredited by the Association Montessori International (AMI), IOL adds.
The past three months saw many teachers from Kayamadi in Stellenbosch participate in the pioneering pilot programme known as ‘Community Rooted Education’ (CoRE).
“Our training enables teachers to become true observers of the child – to train their minds to understand the needs of the child and prepare an environment that serves children’s development,” Shearer expresses.
“For this reason that I decided to create the Indaba Institute – to empower teachers to provide the best ECD education possible to the next generations, thereby helping to ultimately break the cycle of poverty,” he concludes.
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