By Memory Chatonda

Blantyre, June 4, Mana:World Vision Malawi on Friday graduated 210 caregivers from 83 Community Based Childcare  Centres (CBCCs) in Phalombe, Machinga and Ntcheu districts.

The graduates are part of 332 caregivers in the southern region who have been trained this year in Early Childhood Development domains to enhance quality of ECD education in Malawi.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony in Blantyre, Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development Deputy Director Justin Hamela said research shows  that children who have attended early childhood education become fast learners in reading and writing  once they have been enrolled into primary school .

“Considering  this, government over the years has been investing a lot in buying learning materials and also training caregivers to promote  early childhood development education.

“We believe, through this, we can reduce learners repetition and increase their retention in class,” he said.

He then commended World Vision Malawi for training caregivers to promote ECD education  in Malawi urging, other organisations to join the quest.

“Currently, Malawi has 60,000 caregivers but only 20,000 have relevant skills to teach children at CBCCs. We therefore need to train more caregivers in order to bridge this gap. In addition, we also need to increase the enrolment of children into CBCCs. At the moment, only 40 percent of children in the country have access to ECD education,” he said.

World Vision Malawi Education Coordinator for South Zone David Ng’ambi said ECD education  is one of the components embedded in unlock literacy project which the organisation is implementing across the country to encourage children to read and write at appropriate age.

He said the child-focussed organisation will continue supporting government efforts in training more caregivers to promote quality of early childhood education among children in all places including in hard to reach areas.

Ng’ambi therefore encouraged the graduated caregivers to utilise all the skills gained during the two-week training to bring out positive change to their communities and national at large.

One of the graduated caregivers from Ntcheu Jane Kalulu  revealed that she has acquired teaching skills from  reading, art, manipulative and building domains to support children’s holistic development.

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