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South Africa's largest-ever survey of preschool child development has found that 65% of children aged 4 to 5 who are attending Early Learning Programmes, are failing to thrive.
The Thrive by Five Index survey was initiated by First National Bank and Innovation Edge, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education.
It was also supported by the United States Agency for International Development and ECD Measure.
The survey assessed over 5000 children aged 4-5 years enrolled in various types of Early Learning Programmes around the country.
Among the key findings were that 55% of children attending ELP's are not able to do the learning tasks expected of children their age, with 28% of them falling far behind the expected standard.
The Thrive by Five Index partnership has called for urgent collective action to decrease the performance gap between young children in the richest and poorest households at the point of entry into school.
Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga said the Index has truly thrown into sharp focus the importance of the work of ECD in moulding and shaping the nation's future leaders.
“Moreover the index will enable the DBE to track progress in providing integrated services that lead to improved child outcomes over the next 10 years," she said.
FNB CEO, Jacques Celliers highlighted that the value of the Index is that it allowed them as a collective to provide optimal support to our children as they progress from grassroots to greatness.
“Thrive by Five's actionable insights will influence targeted interventions that will result in quantitative and qualitative outcomes," he said.
Meanwhile, Sonja Giese, the project head and former Executive Director of Innovation Edge, said South Africa will not realise its development goals of eliminating income poverty and reducing inequality, without addressing the significant challenges that young children face in their earliest years.
“We have to tackle the injustice of unequal opportunities in early childhood," said Sonja Giese, the former Executive Director of Innovation Edge,” she added.
USAID Mission Director Andy Karas said the U.S. Government, through USAID and its partners' Innovation Edge and FNB, has a shared vision with the Government of South Africa to address the root causes of socioeconomic disparity.
"That vision starts with the education of young people - the youngest in this case. Thrive by Five's data will provide a framework for the Department of Basic Education to help the next generation of South Africans to thrive in a just and equal society."
