Nursery schools’ move to DBE welcomed 

1 July 2021

Solidarity’s Social Workers’ Guild welcomes the move of early child development services and programmes from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education (DBE). This follows a notice published yesterday in the Government Gazette. 

“We are delighted with the move of nursery schools and other early child development services to the DBE. Our experience is that the Department of Social Development is not managed effectively and that it is not functional in carrying out its tasks and obligations. It fails to act in the interest of the sectors below it to such an extent that legal action must be taken against it, for example with the opening of nursery schools during the pandemic. Its esteem for this is so low that it even fails to appear in court,” said Marisa Engelbrecht, Sector Head of the Social Workers’ Guild. 

According to Engelbrecht, early childhood development services and programmes have a critical role to play in the education and basic development of certain skills that children need before they can go to school, therefore it makes sense that this sector should be included in basic education. The shift in administrative rights, powers and functions of this sector will officially take place on 1 April 2022.

“Although we doubt whether this move will improve the service delivery of the Department of Social Development to real social issues, we do believe that the Department’s capacity and availability will now be more accessible to social worker and the issues they need to refer. We also believe that nursery schools and other early child development centres will receive the necessary support they deserve,” concluded Engelbrecht. 

Statement issued by Marisa Engelbrecht, Sector Head: Social Workers’ Guild, Solidarity, 1 July 2021