Businessman builds state-of-the-art ECD centre

Respected businessman Patilizwe “Pat” Mdoda and sponsors came together and built a new Childhood Development Centre at Ncembu, KuTsolo village in the Eastern Cape where he grew up and attended his first grade in a hut.

This project began when Mdoda and his family responded to the President Special Project of Early Childhood Education. The school has an administration building with a library, a sick bay, a computer lab and a secure room for valuable school supplies. It also has a classroom building with two classrooms that can each hold up to 30 learners and a storage room, a services building with a kitchen and storeroom, four children's restrooms and one adult restroom and an additional overflow classroom that can hold 15 learners.

“Rural areas are left behind in many ways in terms of infrastructure and as a result, the schooling is affected by that. Having studied in a mudhouse in that school, ultimately to where I am, and looking at the opportunities that came about for me, I felt that I should be able to ensure that those kids are granted an opportunity to be something. We are basically preparing them, which is why we have this state-of-the-art facility which has everything you can find in an urban setting,” said Mdoda.

The facility, named Ncembu Early Childhood Development Centre, will be officially opened as part of the Nelson Mandela International Day celebrations on July 18.

Ncembu Primary School, then classified as a junior secondary school, is the same school where Mdoda was a learner from Standard 3 to 6 (Grades 5 to 8) while it was still made up of rondavel mud huts.

Automotive company Motus has also pledged to supply the facility’s library with books. Mdoda will also be taking two teachers from the new facility to Johannesburg to be trained in LEGO learning techniques.

To honour Nelson Mandela Day, the new development centre will be formally inaugurated. A handover ceremony will be held at Ncembu Village to commemorate this day, and distinguished dignitaries and members of the community are expected to attend.