The DBE has commenced the registration process of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes that are operating outside the regulated system. The DBE’s Bana Pele ECD Mass Registration Drive puts our “children first” and is an important initiative to register ECD programmes at scale to ensure every child is receiving quality early learning, development opportunities and a safe and nurturing environment.

The goals of the drive are to enable Government to have oversight of out-of-home setting where children are cared for and to support ECD programmes to comply with legal requirements. Another aim is to ensure that more ECDs can apply for the subsidy for children from low-income households and to make registration administration processes quicker and less resource intensive for officials, ECD practitioners and social service professionals.

Nationally, at least half of all ECD programmes are currently unregistered and are attended by tens of thousands of children. This means that more than 20,000 ECD programmes operate outside the regulatory framework and are not part of any formal oversight process which disproportionately affects ECDs in low-income areas meaning the poorest children are most likely to miss out on oversight and funding.

The DBE’s ECD team has been working closely with the provinces to align to the new Registration Framework processes and goals; partnering with other ecosystem stakeholders and NGOs who are supporting the registration drive. The Drive is currently live in Gauteng and the Free State Provinces and will soon rollout nationally. Through joint effort, active engagement and co-creation across the sector, over 3,000 applications have been received and 800 new ECDs have been registered in the five months since applications opened in June of this year in Gauteng, with 1,479 applications in review. This impacts 27,114 children and 3,116 staff members. Since the ECD function shift from the DSD to the DBE, Gauteng has had a total of 2,380 registered centres, and through the campaign 30% more registered ECDs were added to this number. Nationally, there are approximately 18,000 centres registered and it is anticipated that, as the drive rolls out across the country, 10,000 more ECDs will have been registered by the end of 2025.

The threshold for system-entry is realistic and attainable to reflect and accommodate the complex, varying and real-life contexts in which ECDs operate in South Africa. Practitioners receive live support from a contact centre agent to complete their applications on the new and robust Early Childhood Administrative and Reporting System (eCares). The DBE calls on all ECD operators to participate in the Mass Registration Drive to ensure universal access for all South African children.