Nursery centres not doing right thing - official
Ms Kedrace Turyagyenda, the director of educational standards at Education ministry. FILE PHOTO
Many operators of nursery centres across the country are not knowledgeable about Early Childhood Development (ECD), which disorganises the children’s learning process, a senior education official has said.
“Many ECD centres are doing it wrongly. They teach Primary One syllabus and they deprive the children of the ability to learn what is appropriate for their age,” Ms Kedrace Turyagyenda, the director of educational standards at Education ministry, said.
She was speaking at the commissioning of the Safir Hajee ECD and Resource Centre at Luzira Prison Grounds in Nakawa Division yesterday. Ms Turyagyenda said children need ECD to be able to transit to primary school effectively.
Canadian-based NGO, the Institute for Rural Education and Development (IREAD), in partnership with Graphic Systems and Rotary, constructed the ECD centre to facilitate the learning process of children of up to six years.
According to Ms Turyagyenda, many private ECD centres start as businesses without permission and consent of the authorities and they do not know the required standards for setting such facilities.
Mr Irfan Hajee, the director of Graphic Systems, said the commissioning of the ECD centre is a fulfilment of his late father’s initiative to support education.
“Uganda is our home, and it is our duty to give back to the community. Investing in ECD is a vital component to Uganda’s goal of becoming a middle-income status. We are humbled to be able to support this objective,” Mr Irfan said.
Foundation
Statistics show that early childhood development is the foundation of all future development in any human being and that the brain develops more than 90 per cent of its adult weight during the first five years of life.
