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EU avails 29 mln USD to early childhood development in Namibia

Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Pre-Primary Education (PPE) in Namibia got a financial boost worth 29 million U.S. dollars, when the delegation of the European Union (EU) to Namibia and the National Planning Commission inked a Financing Agreement on Monday evening.

Head of Delegation of the European Union to Namibia, Jana Hybaskova in a statement on Tuesday said, the support to the education sector and in particular to Early Childhood Development and Pre-Primary Education is much more than education, but a vital tool to target one of the most serious challenges Namibia faces, namely the high income inequality and social disparity.

Hybaskova said the funding will be made available as budget support, with specific aims and objectives and performance indicators as agreed between the EU and Namibia and the program will assist government during the next 4 years.

She said the development of additional model ECD Centres in some of the poorest regions of the country as well as provision of subsidies to Educarers, provision of teaching and learning materials in all ECD centres and PPE classes will be part of the package.

Meanwhile, in line with Namibia's national development plans, it has now become the government's priority to reduce the high drop-out rate during primary education, to increase retention in grade 1 and to improve overall learners' academic performance. Endit