ECD centre opens at Bethanie

BETHANIE – Deputy Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Lucia Witbooi last week opened an Early Childhood Development centre at Bethanie, sponsored by the Anglo-American Foundation (AAF).The N$1.1 million centre has two classrooms, toilets, an office, kitchen, pantry, inside play area and outside playground.Named Vrolike Voetjies, the centre is the brainchild of a mother and daughter, Maria Meyer and Nadia van Rooyen, who started the small school in 2011 in a corrugated iron room in their backyard.Van Rooyen, a Bethanie native and teacher in Oranjemund, started looking for sponsorships for a proper centre and three years ago, knocked on the door of the foundation.By then, Meyer had acquired a piece of land across her home from the Bethanie Village Council.However, when AAF came on board late last year, the land was returned to the council as the foundation does not support projects owned by individuals.The centre now belongs to the village council, but is managed by the mother and daughter with the help of two caretakers. The school is tasked with paying its monthly municipal dues to the council, while the 38 children registered at the centre each pay N$100 per month.Witbooi lauded the partnership between the ministry, the foundation, the local authority and the community. She emphasised the importance of early childhood programmes and interventions.“The foundation should be laid correctly if we want healthy, productive citizens,” she said.It is also vital to have trained educators, Witbooi added, stating that the ministry provides training, though not at the desired speed due to limited resources.She described the facility as a huge boost to the village’s development and urged parents and community members to assist with its maintenance and small donations.The AAF has developed ECD centres in the Hardap and //Kharas regions at a cost of N$5 million over the last five years.Witbooi and the AAF’s Richard Cook earlier on Wednesday inaugurated an ECD centre at Koës. This centre was built by the ministry while the foundation erected the fence as part of an ongoing public-private partnership.Cook said the foundation’s dream is to construct ECD centres in each village and town in the South.“Though Anglo-American is no longer involved in mining activities in the South, it wishes to plough back to the communities in a worthy manner,” Cook said.ECD centres at Noordoewer and Grünau were opened last year, while another at Maltahöhe will open next month. Centres are under construction at Lüderitz and Hoachanas.Cook also called on the involvement of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in the ECD phase.“There should be a directorate or even a ministry just for early childhood development as it is such an important phase,” he suggested. - Nampa

ECD centre opens at Bethanie

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Republikein 2026-04-13

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ECD centre opens at Bethanie

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