South Africa's government subsidy for early childhood development now reaches about 200,000 more children than two years ago, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said, according to Daily Maverick.
Speaking at the Bana Pele leadership summit, which opened on Monday, she said more than 954,000 children now benefit from the subsidy of R24 per child per day, up from 748,000. Around 1.2 million children aged three to five attend early learning, but about a million more do not, a gap she said the country could not accept. The subsidy budget has nearly doubled to R6.49bn this year and is expected to reach R9.1bn by 2028/29.
The government aims for universal access by 2030. Some centres have complained of late payments by provincial departments, and in June a court ordered KwaZulu-Natal's education department to pay outstanding subsidies.
Source: Daily Maverick
