Ramaphosa's ECD Summit sparks hope for kids!

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa will officially open the Bana Pele Early Childhood Development (ECD) Leadership Summit on Monday, 17 March.

The event will be held at Atlas Studios in Joburg.

The Department of Basic Education, in partnership with Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), co-hosted the Bana Pele Roadmap Leadership Summit.

The Presidency states that the summit's goal is to rally a public and private coalition around the DBE's 2030 ECD Roadmap, aiming for quality universal access to early learning.

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Over 1,3 million kids are currently not enrolled in any early childhood development (ECD) programmes, leaving them without the foundational literacy and numeracy skills needed for school success.

Vincent Mangwenya, the President's spokesman, said South Africa is determined to better the lives of kids.

"This learning gap affects their ability to take critical subjects such as Mathematics, Science, counting and Economics in later years. These are the skills that are vital for innovation, economic growth, and job creation.

"The summit will bring together government and civil society and expect to construct universal access to quality ECD across the country. This is a crucial step toward ensuring that every child, regardless of background, has access to the early learning opportunities they need to thrive in life," he said.