Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Program in the National Child Development Center (NCDC)

It was last September 28, 2015 when the said NCDC was blessed and inaugurated. Prior to this, the Child Development Teacher (CDT) after her attendance to the Early Childhood Training and Education Program (ECTEP) had conducted community mapping; wherein, potential recipients of the ECCD program and enrollees to NCDC were identified. It prioritized then children from 4 barangays: (1) Central which day care center is temporary closed, (2) Binisitahan Sur where the NCDC is located, (3) Bacolod, and (4) Binisitahan Norte which are adjacent barangays to where the NCDC is built. Upon agreement with the MSWDO; however, barangay-beneficiaries became Central, Banacud, Cawit Extension and Aguada Norte.

For almost three School Years now, NCDC implements the following programs; to wit:

1. Early Learning Program designed to provide the CDT the necessary tools in handling children 0-4. It also provides them rich information to create appropriate learning experiences that will build children’s skills and understanding in the context of everyday routines and within intentionally-designed learning environment that would encourage children’s interest and curiosity without limiting teacher’s own creativity.

• ITED (Infant and Toddler Early Development) Class – children ages 0-2.4 years old attend one (1) hour class every week handled by the CDT and the child’s parent or guardian.
• Pre-K1 Class – children ages 2.5-3.4 years old attend two-hour daily classes
• Pre-K2 Class – children ages 3.5-4.0 years old attend two and a half hour daily classes
• Summer Activities – children ages 0-4.11 years old attend classes during the summer months

2. Supplementary Feeding Program which provides hot meals to children-beneficiaries for 120 days. The food served, as an addition to the regular meals of the children, is being prepared by parents in the center; while recipes or suggested menu came from the dietary nutritionist of the DSWD.
3. Family Support Program designed to provide assistance to parents/primary caregivers in the growth and development of children in home and community. The Program encourages active involvement of the community towards effective implementation of ECCD integrated services.

The NCDC, in implementing its Early Learning Program, utilizes the National Early Learning Curriculum through 7 Learning Resource Packages provided by the National ECCDC. Daily routines include arrival/free play, meeting time, activity time, outdoor play, snack time, rest time, circle time, story time, and goodbye. The Center also conducts ECCD Checklist and Portage Guide in assessing children’s growth and development in 7 domains (gross motor, fine motor, receptive language, expressive language, self-help, cognitive and social-emotional).

Meanwhile, year-round special activities in the NCDC consist of Early Registration, Brigada Eskwela, Actual Registration, Camp Bulilit, Orientation Day, Nutrition Month Celebration, Foundation Day Anniversary Celebration Cum Family Day, Children’s Month Celebration, Christmas Party and Moving Up and Open-house Exhibit. The NCDC is operated and maintained by the Local Government Unit thru the MSWDO. ECCD program implementation and class management are being handled by a Child Development Teacher, Teacher Aide and Technical Staff with a maximum of 75 children-learners each School Year.