Leading political parties have omitted ECD from their manifestos, so where are the promises to our children?
Local governments have the means to disrupt the bureaucracy that suffocates crèches and prices many out of the market.
Local government elections are almost upon us. Election slogans and manifestos have been drafted and in homes and on streets across the country, voters are considering which promises they can trust. But for the youngest in the country, few election promises are ever made at all.
The silence on early childhood development (ECD) in the manifestos of all major political parties shows that the needs of our children are going unheard. ECD practitioners, teachers, childminders, cooks, gardeners and principals, and most importantly our youngest children, bear the brunt of the political ignorance or indifference. Their stories matter.