CHILDHOOD CARE: The Ministry of Education and Sports in Uganda has stopped all kindergarten and Nursery schools from operating boarding sections and also ordered parents to stop sending kids during very early morning hours at school.
The stoppage was announced on Tuesday, March 28th 2023 by the state Minister of Education and Sports in charge of Primary Education Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu on behalf of the Education Minister Hon Janet Kataha Museveni at Munyonyo, Speke Resort in Kampala.
Minister Kaducu said parents have to take a responsibility of taking care of their children other than loading the entire tasks to schools which can’t offer the exact parental care at the early childhood stage. She added that when children’s quality of learn is affected when sent to school in the very early morning.
The Minister ordered Education inspectors to strictly follow up on this matter.
Together with other stakeholders, Dr. Moriku Kaducu signed a commitment to implement the children call to action of making early childhood care and education a priority.
The UNICEF representative to Uganda Dr. Munir Safieldin said Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) system approach can help think through reforms in a way that aligns policy goals with the elements needed to achieve them.
“All studies throughout the world show that children who go through ECCE don’t repeat or skip classes, so if we make sure that all children have access to ECCE there will be no school drop-out as we help young boys & girls reach their full potential & supporting human capital development focused on equity & quality of care & education” Dr. Munir Safieldin said.
Dr. Cleophus Mugenyi the Commissioner Basic Education at the Ministry of Education and Sports encouraged all stakeholders to join the Ministry to work towards increased access to quality and inclusive Education in ECCE.
Stakeholders during a plenary discussion at the symposium asked the National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) to have an early childhood learning department to focus on early learning education.
Children also made a call to action to Education stakeholders to make Early Childhood Care and Education a priority.
In a research done by the National Planning Authority, children exposed to early learning are more likely to achieve higher literacy and numeracy proficiency levels, although Uganda has no early learning childhood professional teachers.
The 2nd National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) symposium under the Theme: “Mobilising Collective Effort to Accelerate access to quality & Inclusive ECCE: A call to Action” will be closed today Wednesday, March 29th 2023.
Over 200 stakeholders across Africa have participated in a call to action to accelerate access to quality and inclusive ECCE.
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