BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
Simthembile Sibhayi, 30, is the programme manager at The Unlimited Child, where he oversees 3 830 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres that accommodate over a million children nationally and in Zimbabwe and Lesotho.
“I research and develop innovative means of assisting practitioners and children to advance in their ability to use technological tools in the daily teaching and learning process,” he says. His passion for education management and community development is evident through his work in rural and peri-urban communities with low-income households where he managed the implementation of sustainable educational programmes in ECD centres.
Simthembile is dedicated to ensuring the centres are not only conducive learning environments but also viable micro-enterprises in communities. He recently facilitated the implementation of an information and communication technology intervention for ECD centres in informal mining communities in Limpopo, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga.
It saw the distribution of 350 tablets and the training of 668 people on the use of technology for teaching and learning. He believes every child should have equal access to advanced means of learning at an early age if they are to be competitive in the schooling system.
He holds a master’s in community development from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is enrolling for a PhD in education. “What drives me to excel is seeing under five-year-old children that come from rural and peri-urban communities receiving quality early childhood education that will help them to be competent in their latter years of schooling. Education is the most important resource we can offer children who will lead this country in future,” Simthembile says.
Image: LinkedIn
