Research consultancy
ECD SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY BASED CENTRES.
The study found out that ECD support systems mainly play the following roles: paying salaries for staff, making policies and decisions to improve standards of the centre, monitoring centre activities, planning and budgeting for the centre, encouraging parents to register their children at the Centre, organizing workshops and refresher courses for caregivers, sensitizing parents on the importance of ECD and overseeing the centre activities.
It was therefore concluded that ECD support systems play most of the roles apart from making repairs and recruitment of volunteers.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF ECD CENTRES
From the discussions on community participation and sustainability of ECD centres, the following were found out: most parents within the community take their children to private nursery schools, most parents do not take their children to community ECD centres because of the unqualified caregivers and low standard at the centre, the enrollment of pupils in most centres is low because of low standard and use of unqualified caregivers, communities cannot be able to sustain ECD centres without the help of NGOs because parents are not cooperative, which is brought about by other making contributions while others do not yet children get the same services, some centre management committee members if some centre are not allowed to make decisions while in some centres they are allowed and the influence of community participation leads to fulfillment of most of the roles a part from retention of the pupils at the centre.
It can therefore be concluded that: most parents take their children to private nursery schools because ECD centres recruit unqualified caregivers which has lowered the standard of the centre compared to private schools which have qualified caregivers.
ROLES OF COMMUNITY IN SUSTAINABILITY OF ECD CENTRES
The study found out in as far as roles of communities on sustainability of ECD centres is concerned that: parents make contributions for children’s welfare, take and collect children from the centre and make renovations as well as brick laying on voluntary basis, parents do not fulfill most of the roles because they feel it is the responsibility of NGOs to provide each and everything to sustain ECD centres, and finally that enrollment at the centre is not growing because of low standards, too much workload because of being under staffed.
It can therefore be concluded that parents perform some roles for example making contributions for children’s welfare. However, they do not fulfill other roles because they feel it is the responsibility of NGOs to provide each and everything to sustain the ECD centre and the enrollment at the ECD centres does not grow because of low standard and caregivers are under staffed.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The study recommends that:
ECD support systems should play all the roles including making repairs and recruitment of staff and not leaving some roles to communities that may not have the capacity and ability to handle certain tasks.
ECD support systems together with centre management committee members should collaborate and recruit a number of qualified caregivers on merit to improve on the standard of the centre, enrollment of learners and sustainability of ECD centre.
ECD support systems and parents as well as parents and other stakeholders should work hand-in-hand to improve on the standard of the centres and therefore encourage all parents within the community to take their children to the established ECD centres.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
This research study may not have met or touched on all areas that influence sustainability of community early childhood development centres by parents in Wakiso Kampala and Mukono. Therefore, the researcher has seen that there is need for further research in the following areas:
Establishment of Home-Based Learning as a strategy to avoid the loss of developmental potential in children as a result of suspension of pre-primary education.
A study should be conducted in other districts to find out if there are other factors influencing parents’ ineffectiveness to sustain the establishment of set up ECD centres.
Another study should be conducted on how best a collaborative sustainable home-based learning in communities between parents and caregivers can be formed as a measure to promote children’s social development in this error of COVID-19.
Further research also be conducted on the impact of suspension of pre-primary education on parents’ economic development and participation.
The impact of home learning materials (developed by National Curriculum Development Centre) for 3–6-year-old on ability to read and write or join lower primary class.
