14 Jan 2019

Early Childhood Education (ECE) is said to be the best foundation in the life of a child as it is a vital aspect of a child’s learning and development.

In an interview, Letlhakeng Sub-district principal education officer Ms Chenesani Joseph said ECE was important in terms of physical, cognitive, social, intellectual and emotional developments.

She stated that even in language learning, children did better as compared to adults, insisting that it worked better for children to be taught other languages at an early age.

Ms Joseph said at Standard One, pupils with ECE fit better  than the ones without.

She said for economic reasons, it was not every parent who could afford to take their children to private schools and commended the government for finding it fit to have pre-school classes in public schools.

She said despite government’s effort to establish pre-school classes, it was not enough as they start at the age of four and a half years as compared to two and half years in private pre-schools.

She commended parents who engaged their kids in early childhood education, saying this gave pupils enough time to learn the basics.

She pleaded with teachers to be patient with pupils as the unique differences found in each one of them made them work at different paces according to their abilities.

She said children should be given enough time to play as they also learn through playing.

She also advised parents and teachers to be cautious about how they nurture children as they learn through copying.

Ms Rosemary Phedulu, the school head at Busy Bee English Medium and Day Care said their objectives as a Private Pre-school were realised when parents collaborated with them.

She urged parents to appreciate their children and realise that they were all unique in their own ways. ENDS