Subsidy delays force teachers to feed kids from their own homes
Ndlambe preschool teachers and carers have been taking groceries out of their own kitchen cupboards and going into debt, just to keep the doors open for the children in their care during the past three months. They are among 5000 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres across the province whose subsidies were delayed since April. Ndlambe ECD centres were among those affected by the move of ECD governance and administration from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education.
This switch follows the announcement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his February 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA) where he said that the responsibility for ECD centres would be migrated from the National Department of Social Development (DSD) to the National Department of Basic Education (DBE). The function of ECD centres, however, has not changed.
Sakhisizwe Educare Centre in Nemato was one of the 26 ECD centres in Ndlambe who only received their subsidies at the end of June (30 June 2022) and struggled to make ends meet with the running of the centre. Of the 26 ECD centres in Ndlambe, 24 receive subsidies from the government. Sakhisizwe, which was established on 25 March 1995, relies solely on the government subsidy to cater for the 50 children aged 0 to 5 years at the centre.
Phindiswa Mpati, the principal of Sakhisizwe Educare Centre and also the chairperson of Ndlambe ECD Forum, took over the reins of the centre in July 2007 with 60 kids attending the centre. That scale has gone down to 50 learners currently, which she attributes to the mushrooming process. Although the centre has been inspected and qualifies to accommodate 63 children, they can only cater for 50 children based on the funding they receive from the Department of Basic Education.
“It was very difficult to keep the centre running in the three months before we received our subsidy. In our case, we even struggle to get the monthly school fees from parents because we work in a community with a high poverty rate that we cannot shy away from so it’s very difficult to get those fees from parents,” she said.
“During the period when the payment was delayed, we ended up taking groceries from our own homes just so the children can have something to eat. We went as far as asking the spaza shops to let us take groceries in debt, which we paid back when we received our subsidy at the end of June. It was an immense struggle really, our policies as teachers even lapsed because we couldn’t pay at the time since we had also not received our stipends,” said the Principal.
Despite all the circumstances and struggle, the ECDs kept running. Parents also chipped in and assisted with buying basic food to feed the children. At other centres however, the situation were so dire that they couldn’t continue with cooking for the children and they had to rely on whatever snacks the parents had packed for them.
The spokesperson of the Eastern Cape Department of Basic Education, Malibongwe Mtima said the delay in the payments of subsidies in the province was due to centres submitting contracting documents late in May.
“This delay consequently impeded verification of centres as this is done post contracting document submission,” he said. Mtima said centres from Port Alfred were submitted for payment and there weren’t any rejections from the department. Of the 26 ECDs in Ndlambe, the 24 who receive government subsidies have now all received their funding. 10 received at the end of June and the other 14 received their subsidies in July.
