Who is looking after Little Tumi?

Share current article via EmailShare current article via FacebookShare current article via TwitterShare current article via LinkedInMandisa MakgakgaEnter fullscreen mode displaying this image.ExpandBasic education minister Siviwe Gwarube had a Soweto class of youngsters hanging onto her every word during her Bana Pele Early Childhood Development (ECD) mass registration drive. Story audio is generated using AI

“Little Tumi” was the focal point of a workshop at the Bana Pele (Children First) leadership summit in Sandton this week, where participants collaborated on a narrative envisioning an ideal childhood for South Africa’s children.

Tumi lives with and is cared for by her grandmother. Her family cannot afford an early childhood development (ECD) programme, and there is no adequately resourced centre nearby.

Although Tumi is fictional, she represents the estimated 1-million children aged between three and five who do not attend early learning programmes (ELPs), as well as those whose centres lack state funding for books, stationery and other learning materials because they do not qualify for the R24-a-child daily subsidy.

A centre must be registered or conditionally registered with the department of basic education to qualify for the subsidy.

Practitioners at the workshop called for greater government support and a direct voice in decisions affecting their ECD programmes.

According to the basic education department’s communications lead, Uvania Naidoo: “For little Tumi to be equal with other children from all walks of life, we need to ensure that all ECDs are equipped with books, [and that children can] learn through play and [have] conducive environments, in spite of where they come from.”

The R24 subsidy helps ECD centres cover the costs of running their programmes and providing learning resources. It was raised from R17 to R24 a day for each qualifying child in October last year.

The Education Desk logo. The workshop came as basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube said the department was working towards a single registration process for early learning programmes as part of the Bana Pele shared blueprint, which aims to bring an additional 1.2-million children into quality early learning programmes by 2030.

Cutting the red tape is among Gwarube’s priorities. A single registration process would help providers enter the subsidised system, including those operating from homes and in rural communities.

The process is onerous at the moment. “Registering one early learning programme requires a social worker, an environmental health practitioner, a municipality and the provincial department. The practitioner should not have to carry that complexity alone,” Gwarube said.

Departments and municipalities need to co-ordinate their requirements and assist applicants, she added.

“We should be able to say, ‘Here is a checklist required by all departments to make the process faster. This is what you need to do. How can we help you?’”

This forms part of her plan to address barriers to access and make registration easier for existing community caregivers.

She also wants to help underfunded ECD providers acquire skills. “How do we make sure that uGogo from Alex is able to get some kind of training to be able to run her finances in her ECD centre?”

Lindiwe Zungu is one such childcare provider. She runs the Ncedo Day Care Centre in KwaMashu, KwaZulu-Natal, caring for 30 children and charging R100 a month. She has no access to state funding.

“When parents cannot pay, I have to use the money for my family to buy supplies, food and books,” Zungu said. “I have been trying for two years to be registered, to no avail. There is just a delay somewhere that you will encounter.”

In Gauteng, about 5,900 ECD programmes remain unregistered, according to education MEC Lebogang Maile. He cited zoning, fire and food-safety requirements — as well as unreliable water and electricity supplies in informal settlements — as obstacles to registration efforts, TimesLIVE reported.

Ntsiki Bhengu, who runs the Tholulwazi Day Care Centre, near Springs, expressed frustration over delays in registration and funding, which have also forced her to cover the costs of caring for 37 children without government support.

“I have submitted every form available, but I have not received constructive help,” Bhengu said. “This is frustrating because the cost of living is hard, but children need to learn. We are forced to close down because this is unsustainable.”

Programmes initially receive bronze status but must progress to silver or gold to qualify for the R24-a-child daily subsidy. This requires additional documentation and compliance assessments.

In an effort to speed up the process, 1,343 programmes received silver or gold approval between January and September, joining existing programmes already eligible for funding.

Gwarube said nearly 40,000 early learning programmes serving 1.6-million children were registered nationally.

Tracy Fortune, chief executive of the Early Learning Resource Unit, said registration difficulties reflected a wider affordability crisis. She noted that household income in communities with high unemployment often depended on old-age or child-support grants.

“Universal access needs to translate to universal affordability,” Fortune said. “We have seen in the poorest areas that, unless ELPs are anchored by a sustainable revenue stream, access collapses. It is very fragile, and there is a lot of economic fragility. We need a system that enables that sustainability.

“Registration needs a pathway to the subsidy, and we need to cost it and systematise it,” she said.

By 2030, the Bana Pele shared blueprint aims to:

This story was produced by The Education Desk, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to addressing schooling challenges in South Africa.

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