Abstract
In South Africa the majority of young children are adversely impacted by a range of social and economic inequalities. Apartheid, along with the resultant socio-economic inequalities, deprived most South African children of their fundamental socio-economic rights, including their right to early education. Global evidence shows early childhood development (ECD) interventions can protect children against the effects of poverty; and that investment in quality ECD programmes for young children has a significant effect on reducing poverty and inequality across society. Currently children in South Africa are exposed to significant variation in the distribution and quality of ECD programmes. This chapter reviews the most up-to-date data on the current inequalities in ECD in South Africa, in relation to age, race, gender, location, and income levels; and examines current provision rates and differences in quality; data which has, up to now, not been synthesised in this way. The chapter explores the consequences of inequality, and why this inequality persists. To bring about equality for young children, a number of government actions are recommended.
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Notes
- 1.
For the purposes of this chapter, Early Childhood Development (ECD) refers to the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development of a child from conception up until the age of six.
- 2.
In South Africa there are generally five racial categories by which people can classify themselves, the last of which is “Unspecified/Other”. The other four categories comprise Black African; White; Coloured; Indian/Asian. Population estimates in 2016 showed that of the total South African population (55.9 million people), 80.7% were Black African, 8.8% were Coloured, 8.1% were White, and 2.5% were Indian/Asian (Statistics South Africa [StatsSA] 2015).
- 3.
Income quintiles refer to the classification of household income according to five quintiles; with Quintile 1 being the poorest 20% of the country’s population and Quintile 5 being the wealthiest 20% of the country’s population.
- 4.
Due to low levels of access to ECD centres across South Africa, for vulnerable children, different types of ECD programmes have been designed to fill the gap. Non-centre-based programmes, as the name suggests, comprise “any ECD programme, service or intervention provided to children from birth until the year before they enter formal school, with the intention to promote the child’s early emotional, cognitive, sensory, spiritual, moral, physical, social and communication development and early learning” (Republic of South Africa [RSA] 2015b, p. 13). These programmes include informal playgroups, toy libraries, as well as family outreach programmes that are specifically designed to support and guide parents and caregivers on early learning stimulation and development of their young children. These programmes are cost-effective in reaching the most marginalised children who cannot afford to access formal centre-based ECD interventions (van Niekerk et al. 2017).
- 5.
It is important to note here that figures reflecting averages can mask disparities within groups, but are presented here in order to assess the performance of the country and the inequalities that currently exist in the ECD field.
- 6.
In most countries across the globe, fewer than half of children in the 3–5 age cohort attend an early learning programme (United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] 2016), and as such, whilst 63% in not high enough, it is in the upper percentiles, globally.
- 7.
This finding is expected, as high service uptake is not generally expected in the 0–2 age cohort unless day care needs are high, such as in urban provinces, where caregivers are more likely to be working outside of the home.
- 8.
This could be due to various reasons including need for day-care, employment and affordability.
- 9.
The data for 2016 and 2017 were not finalised at the time of writing, and as such were not available.
- 10.
It is important to note here that Grade R provision rates in South Africa are set to increase over the next few years, with the aim of reaching full provision by 2019; an admirable objective, but according to the data this is highly unlikely.
- 11.
Researchers have found that Grade R teachers are relatively un- and under-qualified, with only two-thirds of teachers in Grade R classes in ordinary schools having obtained a Grade 12 certificate, and only around 20% holding a degree; (Gustafsson 2017)
- 12.
This is based on data obtained from the 2014 Department of Social Development (DSD) and Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) ‘Audit of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres’ report, and as such reflects an underrepresentation of ECD centres in the country. As such, it is important to look at the differences in enrolment rate figures and not at the raw percentage data.
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Ashley-Cooper, M., van Niekerk, LJ., Atmore, E. (2019). Early Childhood Development in South Africa: Inequality and Opportunity. In: Spaull, N., Jansen, J. (eds) South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality. Policy Implications of Research in Education, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18811-5_5
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