INTERVIEW: Siviwe Gwarube targets 7 million children in structured ECD programmes by 2030

South Africa’s Basic Education Minister, Siviwe Gwarube, is targeting seven million children in structured early learning programmes by 2030, framing early childhood development as vital to fixing literacy and boosting GDP. Through the Bana Pele registration drive, expanded subsidy access and targeted nutrition initiatives, she aims to eliminate red tape and bridge the country’s stark inequality gap from the ground up.

Since being sworn into office as South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education in 2024, Siviwe Gwarube has consistently advocated for urgent and sustained investment in early childhood development (ECD), framing quality learning in the early years as a critical mechanism for fixing the national literacy and numeracy crisis.

In November 2025, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced the approval of the National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children, a framework that aims to intensify efforts to advance the welfare and development of South Africa’s children.

In May 2026, Gwarube said that more than 13,300 ECD centres had been registered in the past year, and that upward of 1.2 million children were accessing registered early learning programmes across the country.

However, sitting down with Daily Maverick to discuss her vision for the ECD sector, Gwarube was not afraid to acknowledge that there was still significant work to be done.

“We are able to see the direct correlation between children who have access to [the ECD] subsidy, who are on the Child Support Grant, and education outcomes... I think the ECD team is incredible and they do really great work, but we’ve got to push ourselves harder and harder. Remember, the target is seven million children in structured ECD centres by 2030,” she said.

Referencing the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) Bana Pele ECD Mass Registration Drive, launched in 2024, she noted that focus had shifted from getting centres registered at bronze level, to elevating programmes to silver and gold level, where they could access the ECD subsidy of R24 per child per day.

In 2025, the National Treasury allocated an additional R10-billion to the Department of Basic Education over the medium term to increase the subsidy to R24, and support expanded access to ECD for about 700,000 more children under five.

“The R10-billion that has been allocated over the medium term is going to hinge on whether or not we are able to spend that money, and spend it effectively. So, that has to be the obsession,” said Gwarube.