Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube says plans are under way to register all the unregistered Early Childhood Development Centres nationwide.

In 2022, the governance of the ECD sector shifted from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education.

Gwarube was speaking during the Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive at the ASHA Margaret Ballinger Day Care in Soweto.

“Treasury has given us an access of R10 billion for the next three years. What’s going to be important is that we going to be able to spend that money. But importantly, we need to make sure that these ECD’s infrastructures are in place, school nutrition is in place, their practitioners are trained. We know that if we get the foundations right in our system, then children are setup for much better success later on.”

Some people working in the sector have outlined the challenges that they face.

“They require plans and architects try to help us. Things get stuck in Braamfontein and we want to be compliant, it takes time. We don’t know, we don’t have people to assist us with getting the compliance. Also, our teachers get very low salary,” laments an ECD centre owner.

“The subsidy that we have signed for comes in late. So, we can’t buy enough food, we can’t pay our teachers, we can’t pay rent. These are the challenges we are experiencing, ” says another ECD centre owner.

The Bana Pele ECD Mass Registration Drive took place in Soweto today, where @DBE_SA Minister Siviwe Gwarube led the drive encouraged #ECD owners to register their centres, and others to update their registration.#GovZAUpdates #BanaPeleZA #EarlyLearning pic.twitter.com/jGruU6dmZQ

— Gauteng Department of Education (@EducationGP1) November 28, 2025

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