Busia: The African Inland Church and Community Agency for Development (AICCAD) and Help a Child Africa (HACA), in collaboration with the County Government of Busia, have commissioned a state-of-the-art Early Childhood Development (ECDE) Centre at St Teresa’s Makale and Lwanyange Primary Schools in Nambale Sub County. Speaking during the handing over ceremony of the classrooms, the director of AICCAD, Mathew Okeyo, highlighted the initiative’s goal to ensure that every child lives a dignified life in a conducive learning environment.
According to Kenya News Agency, Rachel Kigame, the Country Director for Help a Child Africa, emphasized the often-overlooked stage of early childhood, where many children are forced to learn under inadequate conditions, such as under trees. Kigame noted that their ECDE centres adopt an integrated approach, focusing not only on education but also on equipping parents with skills for child nurturing, gaining income through table banking, and advocating for children’s rights.
Busia County’s Chief Officer for Strategic Partnership and Resource Mobilization, Patricia Okello, revealed that the desks and other furniture for the new centres are being locally produced by the county’s vocational training centres. Okello added that the county government constructed 96 ECDE classrooms during the last financial year and plans to build 63 more this year. Furthermore, she mentioned that the county’s school feeding program currently supports 46,000 pupils across 463 ECDE centres, providing meals twice a week to ensure children remain healthy and focused.
AICCAD has constructed six classrooms in three schools, two offices per school, a modern kitchen, a toilet block, and a water tank to promote hygiene. The organisation, currently operating in Nambale Sub County, has expressed its desire to expand support to other sub-counties as resources permit.
