Education
Source: New Era
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare last year trained 122 kindergarten teachers and constructed 10 community kindergartens that are also known as Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDC).
The ministry also renovated 18 kindergartens countrywide. The Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Rosalia Nghidinwa briefed fellow parliamentarians on Wednesday saying despite these achievements there remains a need to expand and improve on early childhood development centres.
She said the ministry has started to provide subsidies to early childhood development centres that meet set standards. "Currently, and for the first time the ministry is piloting the provision of early childhood development subsidies in the form of monthly allowances to early childhood development caregivers, prioritising those serving the poor and marginalised communities," she told fellow parliamentarians.
Over 150 early childhood development centres, two in each constituency, employ caregivers who receive monthly allowances from the government, Nghidinwa told the National Assembly. She said almost 300 caregivers benefit from this initiative.
"More caregivers will continue to be added on the subsidies system every financial year." Nghidinwa was also pleased to announce that 94 percent out of the 155 000 orphans and vulnerable children in Namibia received grants during 2012/ 2013 fiscal year.
Orphans and vulnerable children receive a monthly grant of N$200 from the ministry, which spends a substantial portion of its budget to bankroll the grants for needy children.
Namibia is among a very few countries that provide child welfare grants to orphans and vulnerable children, noted Nghidinwa.