Exploring stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences of the grade r early childhood development policy (2001) in Bethal, Mpumalanga

M.A. (Development Studies)Abstract: Early Childhood Development (ECD) in South Africa finds its deep roots in the country’s political history. The apartheid era created a system where only the minority benefited in ECD leaving the majority out. The event of this marginalisation in ECD created lasting impact on society. This has been reflected in the substantial amount of research conducted on the development of ECD. Despite a considerable amount of research that exists on ECD, only few studies have offered stakeholders a chance to voice their opinions and share their experiences on how policies affect them. For this reason, this study has aimed to fill that gap and build more knowledge about this phenomena. This qualitative research conducted in Bethal in Mpumalanga province, seeks to explore stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences of the Grade R ECD White Paper policy (2001). The ECD White Paper, 2001 was seen as one of South Africa’s biggest policy for children. This policy was not only instrumental in prioritizing the zero-to-four year olds, but it also, for the first time marked the importance of a reception year. This placed emphasis on children attending a Grade R programme with calculated benefits on how it will contribute to South Africa’s education system. However, most of the ECD policies after 1994, have not mirrored exactly what was envisaged. Evidence of this has been the findings of the study which importantly brought forward the disjuncture between policy and implementation and how if these two have not merged, impede on the overall education system and ultimately the economy in the future. The findings further reveal that the lack of adequate resources has made it difficult to successfully implement the Grade R programme which has negatively impacted the quality. Some stakeholders have taken on the government’s responsibility but are struggling to dispatch it. The policy has had unintended effects on ECD centres. For instance, it has created a certain perception in the community that one institution is better than the other. Also, the study reveals how poverty continues to have a negative effect on children exercising their right to education. Most of these challenges were found to affect precisely quintile 1-3 schools and community-based ECD centres. Admittedly, the challenges are not an indication that Grade R in South Africa is ineffective. In short, the findings are salient to all key stakeholders involved in ECD, in particular in as far as policy is concerned. This opens a path for new research to emerge especially at a time where the NDP ECD objectives now include extending the reception year programme to two years even though the current one year programme is fraught with many challenges