5,900 Gauteng ECD facilities unregistered as centres struggle to meet requirements - TimesLIVE

At least 5,900 early childhood development (ECD) programmes in Gauteng are still unregistered, as many struggle to meet requirements around zoning, food safety, fire safety and basic infrastructure.

This is according to Gauteng education MEC Lebohang Maile, who was speaking at the trolley library books handover hosted by basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube at the Boys and Girls Youth Africa ECD Centre in Diepsloot on Tuesday.

Maile said the provincial education department inherited about 7,800 unregistered ECD programmes when the function was formally transferred from the Gauteng department of social development in April 2022.

His department has since been working to bring the centres into the registration system through the Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive.

“We have about 5,900 unregistered ECD programmes on the department’s database after they were called on to come forward and register,” he said.

A trolley library with 400 books was handed over to the Boys and Girls Youth Africa ECD Centre in Diepsloot, founded by Emma Matlhola. Picture: Kabungane Biyela He said the challenge was that many of the centres operated in informal settlements where basic requirements can be difficult to meet. “The requirements can include issues such as zoning, food safety, fire safety and the condition of the building.

“The registration process has three stages. The first is the application stage, where unregistered ECD programmes make themselves known by completing an online application.”

The second stage involved inspections by municipalities to check whether the centres complied with municipal bylaws.

If the centres passed that process, the third stage requires the department of basic education to check their compliance with the Children’s Act.

Maile said some centres did not have reliable access to water or electricity, while others operated from structures that did not meet the requirements for a formal ECD facility.

Gwarube said this was one of the reasons some ECD centres remained at the bronze level of registration.

Under the Bana Pele system, bronze is the initial stage of registration.

Centres then have to go through further compliance checks before they can move to silver or gold.

“The process is designed to recognise the different circumstances in which ECD programmes operate, while helping them meet legal requirements,” she said.

“Our obsession is to try to make sure that we’re not just registering now, we are registering so that we can access the child subsidy,” she said.

The subsidy is now R24 per child per day. Gwarube said the funding could make a difference to centres, especially for parents struggling to pay fees.

For ECD practitioners, the need for that support is important to run a smooth operation.

Owner of Boys and Girls Youth Africa ECD Centre in Diepsloot, Emma Matlhola, said the centre had been operating since April 2016 but remains unfunded.

The centre relied on money from parents, but many families cannot afford the fees.

“Some children go for months without their parents paying, while others receive discounted fees so they do not have to leave the centre,” she said.

The centre operates on a monthly budget of between R13,000 and R16,000. That money has to cover the stipends of four teachers, food for the children, rent and municipal costs.

“We cannot afford to maintain the centre with such little money.”

Matlhola previously worked for the City of Johannesburg’s department of community development and used her salary to support the centre.

But she resigned in 2020 after becoming ill and has since struggled financially while continuing to run the centre.

Matlhola said the centre could not afford qualified teachers and instead recruited people from the community, mostly matriculants, and trained them internally.

“The centre has four teachers. All are matriculants, and one is qualified, and we still cannot afford to pay them their minimum wage. Teachers receive between R1,500 and R2,500 a month, below the R3,500 minimum stipend they should receive.

“We are waiting for a response for our application for a silver certificate, which would allow us to apply for funding.”

The department of basic education has taken the libraries to different provinces during Literacy Month, including KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, and plans to continue the partnership.

“If the children are not able to read and read well like these children are able to, then they are not going to be able to make up that time,” Gwarube said.