Umodzi CBCC bolsters intellectual ability

Annita Mpeya, aged four from Ntweya Village in Sub-Traditional authority Mpunga in Chiradzulu has been waking up every morning by 6:00AM for a quick morning bath. Although there may be no porridge or anything for breakfast at home, she puts on her uniform, grabs her tiny school bag and rushes to Umodzi Community Based Child Centre (CBCC) within the same village.

As she arrives, she is welcomed by Yamikani Sikani, one of the two caregivers at the centre, which is in Mikolongwe Development Programme. At exactly 8:00Am, her day begins with lessons the basic things about education, including the alphabet.

 “A, B, C, D….X, Y, Z. I know how to say the alphabet”, she says, shyly with a smile at the right corner of her mouth.

Annita is one of the 80 children aged between three and five, attending early childhood education at the centre, which runs its lessons from 8:00Am to 11:00AM from Monday to Friday.

Yamikani Sikani says that on each lesson day, the children learn basics of English language, mathematics and expressive arts, to prepare them for primary school.

“Our main aim is to develop the intellectual ability of the children so that when they go to start standard one at the nearby primary school, their brains should already be active. We get reports from the school authorities that all the children that pass through our centre perform absolutely well in class when compared to those that go straight into primary school.” she says.

With CBCCs, enrolment of learners at primary school has nearly quadrupled over the years with a recent study indicating that nearly 91 percent of learners are enrolling as compared to 20 percent in 1997.

In a month’s time Annita will be graduating for grade one at the nearest primary school. She is not the first to take that path; several other children have done before her since introduction of CBCCs by World Vision 15 years ago. They have all been good exports and the primary school testifies.

“We understand that most of our children take the top most positions in class. What happens with children is that when you introduce them to education at a tender age, their intellectual capacity develops quickly and they are more likely to maintain it,” she explains.

The centre is an initiative of World Vision in collaboration with the community of the area. World vision built the structure housing the centre and trained the caregivers on early childhood education.

Chairperson of a 10 member committee, Kennedy Magololo, says since the school started, parents of the children have been contributing in cash and in kind towards the operational costs of the centre.

“The parents and other well wishers provide maize which we use for porridge for the children every day as a way of motivating them to attend lessons. The same parents and other well-wishers also contribute some money which we use to pay the care givers. Basically, they are not paid the normal wages because they work to help the children gain some knowledge,” he says.

The Chairperson explains that World Vision donated toys, teaching and learning materials which are being used at the school. These have made it easy for the children to learn more and be able to utilize the knowledge when they enroll for primary school education.

Catherine Khulani, 21, a parent whose son, Justin, 4, is at the school says she is happy that the child has already mastered ‘self introduction’, the alphabet and many other lessons.

“When he is at home, he spends most of his time recounting what he learnt at school – he is quite a clever boy now. Because of what he does, I feel encouraged as a parent and hence I bought him uniform and I send him to school everyday,” she narrates, smilingly.

“This is our own centre now and we will continue running it as a community. We thank World Vision for building the structure and providing all the support we have received so far. It’s a milestone achievement,” chips in Ishamel Mwamadi, chairperson for the DP’s CBO Networking Committee.

As I leave the centre, Annita says she is ready for standard one next school calendar.