Good development of a child starts with a firm foundation, which includes access to early childhood development (ECD) programmes.

ECD happens in different settings such as at home, school, churches and community-based child care centres (CBCCs).

While the country’s ECD agenda focuses on advancing the holistic development of children in their communities, few children in the country access these vital programmes because ECD centres are few and far apart, especially in rural areas.

Yet every child aged three to six is supposed to be exposed to the ECD environment, which helps them develop holistically.

ECD programmes are crucial to any child at this age because this is the years when both physical and mental development happens at a rapid rate.

For instance, cognitive development of a child can best be enhanced between the mentioned ages.

Unfortunately, the

 children with no access to these programmes miss out many concepts that they are supposed to learn at a younger age.

A child of three to six years is supposed to be assisted to build skills such as pre-reading, language, vocabulary and numeracy.

However, this is not the case for most children from rural areas because they do not attend ECD programmes and most parents cannot afford private nursery schools.

ECD programmes expose children to toys, games and trainings that develop them physically, socially and psychologically.

This makes it hard for teachers who teach in infant and junior sections because they have to cover what these children miss out in their younger stages when these children get enrolled in primary

 schools.

Teachers are, therefore, forced to start teaching these children concepts that are meant to be offered in ECD centres.

For instance, children who have access to ECD programmes have better gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social and emotional skills and improved speech and language, unlike those who have not attended these programmes.

In most rural government primary schools, children learn

 how to read and write simple words properly when they reach Standard Four because teachers are busy helping the learner concepts that are supposed to be instilled in the learner when he or she was younger.

Other children have no access to books, toys and other materials they need at a young age and most parents cannot afford these props.

This is a big contributing factor to why children in rural primary schools in infant and junior sections repeat classes.

Teachers cover work that is supposed to be covered before the child starts primary school. This include naming objects, holding a pencil and socialising with peers.

This in return makes pupils to get promoted to senior classes at a later age; hence, many cases of school dropouts because the child thinks she or he is too big for that class.

 The absence of ECD programmes creates a chain of failure.

Just as the government ensures there are enough primary schools in the country, it should also establish adequate ECD centres or CBCCs to give children a firm start in life.

It is obvious that policies guiding ECD programmes are not working according to plan on the ground.

This sector is given just a shadow amount not enough for a single region of the country. This makes it difficult for the department to work effectively.

It is high time the government invested more in ECD programmes.

Gone are the days children would go straight to primary schools.

Not everyone can afford a private nursery school.

This makes it imperative for the country to invest in quality, affordable and accessible ECD programmes for all as part of the lifelong agenda in the global Sustainable Development Goals.

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