​Last Friday the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) in collaboration with its sister department, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) engaged Ekurhuleni Early Childhood Development (ECD) Practitioners on how to complete the Early Childhood Development Survey in line with the National Guidelines.
This follows the declaration by President Cyril Ramaphosa to migrate the function from the Department of Social Development to its Education counterpart, with effect from the 1st of April 2022.

Speaking to more than two hundred (200) ECD Principals at Alberton Council Chambers in Ekurhuleni last Friday, Brenda Gxekwa from Gauteng Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) said their office’s core mandate is to carry the legislative responsibility for providing education information, as well as  for supporting all monitoring, planning and decision-making processes.

“The data collected from this survey will form part of the national EMIS database used to guide education policy-makers and managers, as well as to provide valuable information to external stakeholders,” she said.

Gxekwa added that Provincial Education Departments also use the data for decision-making and planning purposes.

“It is therefore imperative that every school or centre completes the survey in full and submits accurate data in a timely manner”.

The Department of Basic Education specified the requirements for the survey to ensure national uniformity which, in turn, facilitates the analysis of education data on a national basis.

According to the South African Schools Act of 1996, the ECD Survey is the most important source of information. It requires that every school or centre supplies such information about their institution as reasonably required by the Head of Education, and any person who, without just cause, fails to comply, shall be guilty of an offence.

“The Survey for ECDs has to be completed by all centres, both public and independent,” said Gxekwa.

She added that this process involves, amongst other aspects, a complete count of learners and personnel, as well as details about the learners, resources and school equipment.

During the engagement, clarity seeking questions were asked by ECD principals on how to complete the ECD Survey Form. They were then informed that they will receive an electronic survey tool, a hard copy of the survey and the educator forms that must be returned to their District or Regional Office.