Four New Early Childhood Development Centres Open in Central, Eastern, and Western Regions

The Institute for Rural Education And Development (IREAD) is proud to announce that the districts of Kampala, Bugweri, Bukedea, and Kanungu are celebrating the official opening of an IREAD early childhood development (ECD) centre in their community. These four new IREAD ECD Centres offer activity-based learning for children aged 3 to 6 and have already enrolled over 500 children. These four new centres bring the number of IREAD ECD Centres in Uganda to 10, with four existing centres in West Nile and one in each of Kayunga and Sironko.
The ECD Centres have been built through a collaborative effort led by IREAD, an NGO based in Canada. The Rotary Club of Kampala Day-Break is a key partner, encouraging the communities’ support and ensuring their involvement in the projects. The Ministry of Education and Sports and the Church of Uganda both endorse IREAD and the excellence of early childhood education offered at IREAD ECD Centres. IREAD builds its ECD Centres in communities where early education programming is not already being offered.

IREAD raised Ushs 7,300,000,000 from donors in Canada and the United States—many of whom have family ties to Uganda—and local Ugandan families to build, furnish and equip these new ECD Centres, and to train ECD teachers. The Rotary Club of Kampala Day-Break worked with each community to establish its contribution of local building materials and unskilled labour. IREAD ECD Centres are built on parcels of land donated by the Church of Uganda or private Ugandan foundations.
A Centre Management Committee (CMC) has been established in each village to manage and operate the ECD Centres. CMCs are made up of volunteers committed to ensuring ongoing quality ECD programming for the community’s children. IREAD will remain involved in each ECD Centre by providing teachers’ ongoing professional development and overseeing the ECD instruction.

The extraordinary commitment of donors, community leaders, and business leaders is evidence of the importance Ugandans place on making certain every child, particularly those from underserved areas, has access to early childhood education and its proven long-term benefits.
Members of the media are welcome to attend the upcoming inauguration ceremonies for each new ECD Centre, which are listed on the accompanying IREAD Backgrounder document.
Dr. Noor Jaffer, IREAD President, and May Virji, IREAD Uganda Country Representative, are available for interviews.

For More details Click and Open the link and download the document