CLAREMONT | RONDEBOSCH
CALL AND LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN HELP YOU. LET US THINK AHEAD TOGETHER! 021 910 6576 Silvana.hendricks@peoplespost.co.za
X1WJ75C2-QK090221
TUESDAY 9 February 2021 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
@ThePeoplesPost
People’s Post
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
ECDs remain hopeful NETTALIE VILJOEN NETTALIE.VILJOEN@MEDIA24.COM
W
ith the memory of home schooling still fresh in parents’ minds, many must have breathed a sigh of relief when they could again drop off their adorable but extremely busy toddlers at their local preschool. But with the Covid-19 lockdown having taken its toll on the early childhood development (ECD) sector, not all parents, or children, will be that lucky. According to fieldwork done by the Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD), an estimated 80 000 children in the Western Cape won’t have an ECD centre to return to due to closures. In addition, the loss of income in many households has caused parents to withdraw their children from ECD centres. “This is understandable but tragic. Our evidence is that parents are keeping children at home with older siblings or with grandparents. Some are choosing less expensive child-minding services,” says Prof Eric Atmore, director of the CECD. Told to close at the end of March last year when the national lockdown began, ECDs were only allowed to open again after a court ruling on Monday 6 July. Caitlin Klichowics, the principal at Sunny Side Montessori in Claremont, says, unfortunately, they did lose 30 to 35% of the children enrolled at the pre-school during this time. Sunny Side, which is in its fifth year of operation, accommodates 32 children. She says the children who left were from families who either emigrated, became unemployed, had businesses that were jeopardised or out of fear for Covid-19 infection. “Thankfully, most of the parents whose children remained enrolled at Sunny Side continued to pay fees and we managed to get through this unfortunate time and pay our basic expenses,” Klichowics says. Lisa Gersowsky of Mouse House, with branches in both Kenilworth and Rondebosch, says having their preschools closed for such a long period was difficult for them as a business, for their staff and for the parents of the school.
The play area at Mouse House preschool. The early childhood development sector has been hard hit by the financial fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. The branch located on Dulverton Road in Rondebosch has been running for 11 years and accommodates 24 children. The one in Salisbury Road, Kenilworth, has been open for eight years and accommodates 30 children. “We had to work hard to provide parents with solutions and alternatives to assist in as many ways as we could. We did struggle with parents who were unable to pay,” Gersowsky says, adding that they too had numerous parents who withdrew their children, resulting in staff redundancies. “As a company, we chose to offer parents a significant discount while we were closed to assist parents where we could and to try prevent more parents pulling their children out. We did also offer an extensive online programme with home packs, when we were allowed to do so,” she says. Gersowsky says with the assistance of the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters), Mouse House was able to pay staff their full salaries. “They were working endlessly to keep the online teaching going,” she adds.
Sunny Side Montessori also provided parents and children with an online learning platform and home packs. Both Klichowics and Gersowsky, however, agree that this placed strain on parents. Klichowics says parents had to wrestle with stimulating their children appropriately and creating that routine at home which school provides. “The children also missed the social interaction that they get at school,” she says. According to Gersowsky, the biggest challenge with this age group is that for them to do online activities, they need parents’ assistance. “At this age, children cannot be unsupervised. Many parents needed to hire help in their homes to assist with the learning and keep their children busy while they tried to work. This made it hard for parents to justify paying school fees while paying someone to care for their children,” she says. With valuable lessons learnt from last year, both preschools are now looking ahead. Sunny Side opened on Tuesday 19 January. Klichowics says everything is run-
ning smoothly at the preschool with full attendance. “The children have adapted incredibly well to the Covid-19 protocols as they’ve become a normal part of our daily routine at school. Financially, we are still recovering from last year, but we are hopeful that we can remain open throughout the rest of the year and won’t be financially affected again this year,” she says. The two Mouse House branches opened on Wednesday 27 January. Ninety-five percent of their children are back at school and the other 5% are waiting until their parents feel more comfortable as the second peak passes. Gersowsky says the financial situation does feel more secure at the moment, but they are very aware that this could change at a moment’s notice. “We really hope to be able to continue to provide a high standard care for all those who attend our centres. We are very aware that we have many parents who rely on us for childcare so that they are able to work. We consider ourselves to be an essential service,” she concludes.