Policy/Curriculum 

The plan is primarily aimed at giving the children of our country the best start in life by building a solid foundation of physical, emotional, psychosocial, cognitive, and healthy development. The document reasserts the leading role of the Government in formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes on ECD, whilst recognising the important role played by non-governmental and community-based organisations. The document is organised according to the following structure: Section 1 briefly reviews approaches to ECD and the implementation of ECD in our country over the past decade. The section also briefly looks at some concepts in the context of integrated ECD. Section 2 discusses the vision of the National Integrated Plan for ECD in South Africa. It spells out the primary components of the integrated plan, with the child as a unit of analysis. Section 3 suggests political and operational arrangements required to ensure the implementation of the integrated plan. A matrix of roles and responsibilities is also included in this section. Section 4 outlines Tshwaragano Ka Bana, a programme model of integration. A summary of timeframes for implementation and a suggested indication of the approach that will be used for budgeting and for costing elements of the plan is also included. 

Government document