Postgraduate Diploma in Child Development (PGDCD)
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About Course
Introduction
Sub-Saharan Africa is currently faced with an ever-increasing number of children growing under difficult circumstances. Such children are the victims of a combination of several adverse human situations that include poverty, civil wars, and the HIV and AIDS pandemic. In the majority of cases, children born under any or some of these environmental situations in Africa are prone to suffer from one form of maladjustment, serious infection or some physical deprivation. Faced with the enormity of such life threatening situations, many African governments as well as non-governmental organizations have set up intervention programmes for restoring the lives of many affected children from the state of hopelessness and abnormal human growth and development. Notwithstanding the good intentions of the established children’s programmes, many of the organizations lack qualified professional personnel to deal with child development issues.
The postgraduate curriculum in Child Development is designed to equip individuals who work or wish to work with children who have lived under difficult circumstance with the requisite professional qualifications in Child Development. In this respect, while some of the courses stipulated in this program may appear similar in content to those offered in teacher training programs, the clientele for this particular curriculum are essentially managers of child rehabilitation programs in Africa.
Requirements
Bachelors Degree from an accredited university with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.75 on a 4.00 scale or an Upper Second Class Honours. A Lower Second Class Honours with 2 years' relevant work experience may be considered.
Programme Goals
- To equip the student with relevant knowledge on child and adolescent development with special emphasis on the African child growing under difficult circumstances.
- To identify developmental needs and changes in children.
- To analyze various ways of handling the developmental needs and changes in children.
- To propose ways in which the student will integrate Christian faith and work among the children.
- To equip the student with skills in studying, research, and publication in the field of child and adolescent development with particular focus on the African child living in difficult circumstances.
- To equip the student with facilitation skills that will assist them in carrying out participatory training on child development issues at the community level
