He dedicated his life to assisting the educational development of young children in impoverished communities by helping to establish centres such as the Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU).
Van der Ross died on December 13 at the age of 96, but his legacy continues through the work at ELRU, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
The organisation helps children to reach their full potential and acknowledged Van der Ross for the role he played in influencing early childhood development centre’s across the board.
“ELRU had its beginnings in 1972 when a team of people, along with Van der Ross started the Athlone Early Learning Centre (ELC) in Kewtown,” said ELRU spokesperson Hermoine Solomons.
“Van der Ross was the chairman of the education centre and set out to expose young children to programmes that would stimulate their cognitive ability and ease their transition to learning in formal school.”
Solomons said Van der Ross worked as an education planner with the Department of Education and noted the differences in statistics on school pass rates in the late 1960s, between children of farm workers in Philippi and those from more affluent suburbs.
The ELC presented an opportunity to explore how children learn and to support teachers to facilitate learning.
“The ELC’s approach was a departure from the traditional thinking in the department. The ELC was thus innovative and pioneering and a well-designed environment was created in which to develop relevant, replicable programmes for children between the ages of three months and six years,” said Solomons.
Solomons said the ELC became the model for similar early childhood development centres in other provinces.
During Van der Ross’s time at the ELC, he initiated the Build a Better Society organisation which worked alongside the ELC to strengthen family and community support for children.
Cape Argus