The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s first-ever global report on pre-primary school education has lauded South Africa’s efforts in rolling out pre-primary education.
The report, titled “A World Ready to Learn: Prioritising quality early childhood education”, reveals that children enrolled in at least one year of pre-primary education were more likely to develop the critical skills needed to succeed in school.
While the report highlighted a lack of investment in pre-primary education by the majority of governments worldwide, it commended South Africa’s enrolment rate in this regard.
In light of this, the report makes an example of South Africa’s achievement in early childhood education post-1994 to date. The report highlights the expansion of this country’s Grade Reception (Grade R) class.
“South Africa introduced pro-poor subsidies to provide additional funds to the poorest 40 percent of schools, primarily used to supply additional learning materials and to reduce the number of children per classroom,” the report reads.
Focusing its efforts on how other governments can take a page out of South Africa’s book, the report attributes the country’s success in pre-primary education to Pretoria’s implementation capacity and financial responsibility at various levels of government.
NM/jn/APA