Cape Town – With research demonstrating that the most significant learning and brain growth occurred in children by the age of six, the pandemic reportedly had a detrimental influence on the early childhood development (ECD) sector.
This comes after data released by StatsSA’s General Household Survey revealed that the percentage of children in the 0-4 years age group that remained at home with a parent or guardian increased from 57.8% in 2019 to 64.6% in 2021, while the percentage of children that attended Grade R, pre-school, nursery school, crèche, and edu-care centres decreased from 36.8% in 2019 to 28.5% in 2021.
As the pandemic left many children emotionally, and mentally isolated,…
South Africa Education News