As early at 6:30 am 5-year-old Gad Mporanyi wakes up to prepare for the day. Unlike other children his age, his day does not start with heavy breakfast. He puts on his school uniform and heads to school located 500 metres away from home.

By 7:30am Mporanyi is already at Mageragere Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD&F) in in Nyaruyenzi cell, Mageragere sector, Nyarugenge District—in the outskirts of Kigali city.

At the centre (commonly referred to as an ‘ECD’), Mporanyi joins other 131 toddlers for half-a-day childcare and education programme.

Mporanyi is the last born in a family of five and lost his mother at the age of just one. He has since been raised by his father, Jean Damascene Matiku who also doesn’t’ have as much in terms of resources, but he can afford to contribute Rwf500 per quarter.

Half of that amount is for his son’s porridge at school and the rest goes to the savings scheme established by parents whose kids go to the same school.

At the ECD, you can vividly realise that these children have special care, thanks to 12 caretakers who work tirelessly to ensure the kids are taken care of at school.

You can easily observe a sense of discipline—that kids, even as young as three, know that there is ‘time for everything-the time to eat, time to study and time to play.

When any visitor enters the classroom, the kids are quick to greet in unison with a cheer and smiles on their little faces. All clad in sky-blue uniform, you will hardly identify them as kids from poor families.

The Early Childhood Development & Family programme (ECD) offers vulnerable children an opportunity to enjoy their childhood rights.

The First Lady Jeannette Kagame, who is also the founder of Imbuto Foundation, inaugurated the first ECD&F centre in Kayonza in July 2013. This model has since been replicated, with about 10 centres now constructed in different parts of the country through the partnership of Imbuto Foundation and UNICEF, among other partners.

The rationale behind the creation of this programme was to provide health and education services to vulnerable children under 6, and their families. Once a kid is above that age, they are expected to have finished upper nursery level, and then they are asked to move to primary.

Research made by the government on early childhood development revealed that most crucial aspects of a child’s life are susceptible to change in the first three years. This realisation led Rwanda to establish an Early Childhood Development Policy in September 2011.

But to Matiku, this center has offered more than what his home can offer.

Matiku practices subsistence farming and little is left for sell. He earns about Rwf10, 000 per month from his harvest, the rest is left to feed his son and the rest of his family.

Matiku lives with his son and the second-last born daughter.

If he was to take his son to the same childhood development centre (say a kindergarten)—that offer similar services to kids, Matiku would probably pay a minimum of Rwf50,000, according to Pascasie Umuhoza, the ECD Centre coordinator and a trained teacher.

"ECD has been a beacon of hope for our children and I don’t know what I will do once my son is 6 (years old) and has to move to another school. Here, we pay close to nothing in terms of school dues except for the money we pay for porridge and our savings. Getting school supplies or fees would have been very difficult and Imbuto Foundation has helped our children to be able to get nursery education,” Matiku said.

He added that, "Before, you’d find our kids wandering on the roads, playing in mud but now they are secure, clean and have morals and this helps us to do our work instead of running after them.

Similar sentiments are shared by several other parents who bring their children to this center.

Jeanne Uwamahoro, 28, a mother of three says that, "my daughter speaks English that I can’t even pick a word; ECD has made her a more disciplined young girl than she was the first time she joined here.

For Gisele Byukusenge, what she likes most about the center is that; caretakers are keen on every kid’s hygiene and moral upbringing. She says that it would be "very hard” to send her five-year-old daughter to a distant school.

"They (caretakers) have taken good care of our kids and we have formed groups to mobilise money for the school to buy porridge and prepare it for them. The kids come home looking healthy and happy. My kid now speaks a lot of English, which has challenged me. You might think he goes to an elite school in Kigali.”

However, for Nyaruyenzi area it is a different case altogether, according to ECD coordinator, Umuhoza.

"The nearest primary schools are 5km away and to be honest, it would be hard for a 6-year-old kid to walk 10km back and forth every day to school when they have been used to such a short distance,” Umuhoza says.

Parents are worried of their children’s fate after they have clocked six.

Uwamahoro acknowledged that, "I am a bit worried because ECD has taught my kid differently from how all other schools teach so I wonder if she’ll still be able to study when she joins primary because primary schools are far from here.

When asked about her opinion regarding finding a solution to her concern, Uwamahoro said that, "I request the centre to set up a primary section which children can join directly without having to transfer somewhere very far.”

On the other hand, Matiku as well also "wants Imbuto Foundation and the government to put up a primary school near the ECD for children to continue with primary education.

Umuhoza anticipates that it is going to be "tough” for some of the parents to find a primary school near by the area.

"But at the same time we are worried that some parents might have to wait until their kids are 8 or 10 years old and able to walk such a long distance to attend a primary school in the neighbouring cells. The district should help and bring a school nearby this centre,” Umuhoza reiterates.

Empowering parents

Parents have also established a savings scheme with financial support from Imbuto Foundation. This has led to the generation of extra income through agricultural practices such as poultry and goat grazing. Mageragere ECD&F now has 102 goats distributed amongst different homesteads and 484 chicken.

Room for more ECDs

While Imbuto acknowledges that there are currently "not enough” centres to welcome every child, plans are underway to have at least one ECD centre per district.

In a recent address, Mrs Kagame urged communities, which have benefited from the programme to take it upon themselves to replicate this programme in all parts of the country.

For that purpose, an increasing number of parents are being trained in home-based ECD care so that more children can access the same opportunities offered in the now traditional ECD centres.

So far, ECD&F centres are in Gikomero, Kayonza, Rwamagana, Gicumbi, Mageragere, Ngoma, Gakenke, Nyamagabe, Nyamasheke, Ngororero and Nyabihu.

Each centre hosts about 200 children drawn from the areas close to the centers.

Currently, more than 6000 children benefit from the centres, including those involved in the project through home-based facilities, across the country.

If the situation at Mageragere ECD is anything to go by, then it is a testament that with more centers opening up in Rwanda, more children (and parents) will live better and healthier lives.

However, there is also need for districts like Nyarugenge to follow up on the kids who graduate from ECD and ensure that they have nearby schools to join as soon as they are done with nursery level.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw