Ntataise, an NGO specialising in early childhood development (ECD), will celebrate its 30th anniversary at its annual conference this week.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will be the keynote speaker and it will also be addressed by United States ambassador Donald H Gips.
Ntataise started in 1980, amid widespread public ignorance of the importance of early childhood development and at a time when the apartheid Bantu Education Act did not recognise the need for preschool education for black children.
The NGO said this week that a small group of women then “set about addressing the lack of early development opportunities for farm workers’ children”. Ntataise is now the nucleus of 17 independent ECD training organisations based in seven provinces. Since this network’s inception in 1986, it has trained more than 10000 women and reached about 500Â 000 children in some of South Africa’s poorest areas, Ntataise said.
For details of Monday’s conference at the Roode Vallei Conference Centre near Pretoria, call Ntataise on 056Â 343Â 2331/8559 or email sarahchocolateshoebox.co.za