Nelspruit - The Mpumalanga government plans to make Grade R (reception year) free and compulsory in all primary schools in the province by 2014.
Department of Education spokesperson Jasper Zwane said the initiative was aimed at improving early childhood development and that structures were already in place to comfortably reach the deadline.
"Our view is that early childhood development forms a solid foundation for learning and thus the basis for improved learning outcomes. We are confident that the province will meet the target even before 2014."
He said there were 3 000 children across the province that qualified for Grade R but who were still at home because their parents simply did not care to register them.
"We are planning campaigns where we will work with municipalities and communities to identify the children who should be registered for Grade R. We are positive that, by 2014, every parent or legal guardian will know that their local primary school is providing free Grade R for their children," he said.
The department has budgeted R125-million for early childhood development programmes for the 2010/2011 financial year.
Zwane said different spheres of government, business, religious and other communities should work together to promote early childhood development.
"We each have a role to play if we want to change this country for the better. The department will this year train 880 practitioners towards an early childhood development teacher qualification, and we will also train child minders, cooks and gardeners."
Zwane said his department would join the departments of health and social development in running pilot programmes for integrated early childhood development services in some primary schools.
"We need to find solutions specific to Mpumalanga's problems. These pilot programmes will enable us to determine the best model of early childhood development delivery for the province."
He added that, from April this year, the department had increased the stipend for early childhood development practitioners from R2 000 to R3 500 per month.
"We will also ensure that this stipend is received monthly because from this year, we will pay all these practitioners through the Persal (personnel salary) system."
