Workshop Report
With financing from the Defending Early Years (DEY – Mini Grant Initiative) in August 2022, Mercy Youth Initiative hosted a community-wide event that brought together a total of 36 early years educators, 21 civic leaders and 5 ward representative with a view to address the gaps hindering delivery of quality years education in Mbita West Zone of Homa Bay County.
Workshop Outcome:
The community event discussions centered on;
Building a strong grassroots social advocacy program to petition the county government of Homa Bay to Strength learning through play in early childhood education programmes.
The workshop noted the importance of early learning as entrenched in the second target of Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks to ensure that, by 2030, “all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education”.
The early years education (EYE) stakeholders agreed that they are going to adopt Play-based learning in their institutions and emphatically shift from test-based and exams-oriented education and fully adopt an active, play-based learning approaches capable to transform the educational experiences of children in the early primary grades and strengthen learning motivation and outcomes.
The workshop provided EYE stakeholders with a platform to re-think and re-imagine how to teach young children to tap their enormous learning potential. All the teachers in attendance agreed that Play is one of the most important ways in which young children gain essential knowledge and skills. For this reason, play opportunities and environments that promote play, exploration and hands-on learning are at the core of effective pre-primary programmes. The Ward Representative, among other civic leaders in attendance, petitioned and asked to draft a bill and take it to the county assembly for allocation of funds to all county government funded EYE centers.
Challenge:
One of the great challenges in education planning, therefore, is to incorporate pre-primary education into the formal education sector while retaining the distinctive elements of quality programming for young children. A key element to consider is ‘learning through play’, or ‘playful learning’, which is central to quality early childhood pedagogy and education.
Recommendations:
Draft a formal petition to the County Governor, County Executive Committee Member (CECM), the County Government of Homa Bay to allocate 15% of the total County Revenue to fund early years education centers being run by the County Government so that play-based educational approach can be adopted and implemented in Homa Bay County.
Plan for a follow-up workshop in 3rd quarter of 2023 to assess the impact of play in early years education in Mbita West Zone where EYE teacher’s, EYE Headteachers and Center Managers have been inducted with the previous DEY Mini Grant Funding.
