Early childhood development (ECD) is the allround development of very young children by engaging them in a variety of educational and social activities to help them to further develop into childhood and adulthood.

The development of babies, toddlers and young children forms the foundation for all further development that a person undergoes. Working on Fire has been rolling out Firesafe workshops with ECD centres across the country.

The aim of these workshops is to educate and empower teachers with the knowledge to understand and identify fire risks in and around their schools. Teachers were also taught how they could conduct their own FireSafe workshops.

In the Free State, the Fire Awareness Officers held a workshop to teach crèche teachers in the Bethlehem area the fundamentals of fire, how fires are started, how to extinguish different types of fires, the different sources that can fuel a fire, as well as how to successfully evacuate during a fire. These teachers were also empowered with knowledge to return to their schools and to teach the children what they were taught during the workshop.

Free State Fire Awareness Training Officer, Tommy Mokoena, says, “We invited various teachers that work in the Bohlokong area in Bethlehem and taught them about fire safety inside and outside the house. After this workshop we expect them to implement the very thing that we have taught them today.”

“We were invited to attend the workshop so that we could learn how to safely evacuate the children when there is a fire. What I have been taught today I will teach all of the teachers at my school,” says Khohliso Hlongwane, principal at Paballong Day Care.