ECD to blame on Malawi’s economic challenges, AECDM

The Association of Early Childhood Development in Malawi (AECDM) says lack of initiatives to support productive early childhood development (ECD) is one of the factors that Malawi is unproductive, 49 years after independence.

AECDM executive director Charles Gwengwe said this on Friday in Blantyre during a meeting with religious leaders and officials from government and non-governmental organisations.

The meeting was part of the early childhood care and education for all projects being implemented with funds from the European Union (EU), Irish Aid and UK-DfID through Tilitonse.

During his presentation, Gwengwe said most of the adult mental ability is built within the first three years of life and if not properly prepared, affects one’s contribution in life.

He said because many people have had no access to ECD education, individual contribution to development of the country has been poor.

“We have plenty of examples. Think of how our politicians behave, how the majority of us think and our daily participation and contribution to the country. We were not prepared when our brain was supple and even if we put much effort today, our productiveness can never be excellent,” he said.

Gwengwe said his office has roped in the Church because it already has a holistic approach to ECD education through the Sunday schools.

He said they expect the Church to join them in influencing policy-makers to prioritise.

The discussion also revealed that there are only 987 accredited ECD centres for pre-school across Malawi and out of four million children under the age of 6, only a million have access to ECD education.