Successful ECD well attended
The Ekurhuleni metro held its 7th annual Early Childhood Development (ECD) Summit at the Alberton Civic Centre.
ON October 18 and October 19, the Ekurhuleni metro held its seventh annual Early Childhood Development (ECD) Summit at the Alberton Civic Centre.
‘Quality ECD cannot wait because we care’ was the theme of this event. A full spectrum of experts came together to discuss ECD the agenda, quality education and progress.
Practitioners who attended the event were urged to strive for quality ECD programmes. Member of the Mayoral Committee, Clr Dorah Mlambo, explains: “Poor quality programmes which are limited to early learning and do not focus on child development, are doing more harm than good.”
Ekurhuleni made promises to this summit. These include bringing smart ECD infrastructure within reach; to work with partners in the ECD sector; to promote child rights; to advocate for children; to build capacity of ECD practitioners; to ensure holistic ECD programmes and to initiate ECD forums.
There was a long list of attendees and/or stakeholders at the event, which included the departments of City Planning, Energy, Roads and Storm Water, Water and Sanitation, Social Development, Education, Marketing and Communications. Others included Unicef, Cotlands, Hope Worldwide, SACECD, Smart Start, Save the Children, Raising Readers and many more.
There were plenty of exhibitions and on-site services to browse through from the abovementioned departments, as well as others. If you were looking to join a new non-profit organisation or to find the perfect toys, books or tools of edutainment and/or education for your child, this event was the place to be.
On the first day of the summit, the event started at 8am and concluded at 3.30pm and on the second day, it started at 8am and concluded at 4pm. Introductions, presentations, panel discussions and even a bit of musical entertainment by the EMPD Choir made for a stimulating and enriching annual summit.
Topics of discussion included child safety measures, online risks and safety measures, benefits of digital learning solutions for children, involvement of parents in the upbringing and education of children, literacy initiatives and lots of other similar topics focusing on ECD ideals.
Pauline Ngakane of the Ekurhuleni Health and Social Development Department, along with Audrey Fihla the Director of Community Development, concluded the summit and gave thanks: “We are pleased to thank everyone who made an effort and took the time to attend the ECD Summit of 2017. We very much look forward to the next one.”
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