Top quality pre-schools in townships

Access to quality early childhood development (ECD) for children in low income communities is a serious challenge facing South Africa. It has been proven that children who do not receive quality early education are more likely to drop out of school, with the negative effects of that carrying on throughout their lives. The most effective way to prevent this is to ensure that all children have access to good quality early childhood development education, regardless of where they live.

GROW with Educare Centres was established in 2014 to address the lack of quality early education in low income communities. It is now an independent NPO while remaining a project of The Clothing Bank, one of South Africa’s most successful social enterprising organisations.

GROW’s innovation is that it is the only ECD provider that has developed a turn-key solution, using micro franchising as the pathway to scale. On the one hand, the GROW’s model makes excellent quality early education accessible to children ages two to five in low-income areas. On the other, it supports and skills the school principal to ensure she operates a viable, sustainable business that allows her to earn a decent income to address the real challenge of poverty in her own life.

The social franchising model means GROWs schools can be replicated nationally. “We build a life-long partnership with all the GROW schools’ principals,” says GROW Head of Education, Lisa Voortman. Through GROW they are provided with all the resources they need to operate a top quality school. This includes a detailed curriculum and the right equipment, intensive teacher training, business mentoring, financial management and school administration operational procedures. The school are also regularly monitored to ensure they maintain the high standard.

“We currently have 35 GROW schools operating in the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng” says Voortman. “The GROW schools are becoming increasingly popular as parents realise the value a quality early education gives their child.

The GROW schools in all three regions, are now open for 2019 registration and parents are encouraged to enrol their children as soon as possible. “Parents who are interested should make sure that they enrol their children as soon as possible as the schools will probably be full by January,” says Voortman.

“At GROW we believe that providing quality ECD education to the majority of South African children has the potential to fundamentally change the future of South Africa. We are passionate about making this a reality, and we are succeeding,” she said.

How can someone find out if there is a GROW ECD centre near you? Visit www.growecd.org.za. Or for more information on TCB, visit: www.theclothingbank.org.za.