PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION
5.1
There
has been a rapid growth of institutions that cater for children below school
going age and there is a strong public demand for this type of education as more
and more women enter into paid employment that takes them away from home most of
the day. The concept of basic education was re-defined at the World Conference
on Education For All held in
5.2
Presently
pre-primary education is provided mainly by private individual and organisations
through the day care programme. Access is limited to about 7% of the population
age 3-6 years. The curriculum is not standardised and the training of teachers
is done outside the formal teacher training programmes. Besides, the National
Policy on Day Care Centres which guides the operation of pre-primary education
is out of date in many respects. Finally, responsibility for the programme which
has recently been moved from the Ministry of Local Government, Lands and Housing
to Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs needs to be looked at in order to provide
professional capacity for effective supervision.
5.3
Government
recognises the need to develop effective and comprehensive policy on pre-primary
education “with a view of linking it to the formal education system in the
long run” as indicated in the National Development Plan 7, 1991-97. However,
at the present time Government cannot commit itself to the provision of
pre-primary education on a universal basis given the scale of Government
commitment for other areas of support. Nevertheless, Government will continue to
provide an enabling environment for the expansion of this level of education as
well as provision of adequately trained teachers and effective supervision.