​Its official! Early Childhood Development (ECD) function as of this month of April belongs to the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
This follows the national function shift handover ceremony hosted by the Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, and her counterpart Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, last Friday at Freedom Park, Tshwane.

The begin of April saw the realisation of an announcement that was made by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address in 2019, that Early Childhood Development (ECD) would shift from being the responsibility of the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education with effect from the 1st of April 2022.

The migration will allow for a standardised ECD function to ensure structured learning in the sector, including a managed curriculum. This means that the ECD curriculum will also be aligned with the CAPS curriculum. Furthermore, the shift will allow the DBE to manage the educational journey of young children from play-based learning to their final paper in Grade 12.

Receiving the function to Basic Education, Minister Angie Motshekga said, “This migration will enable children to receive quality education and best support during the early stages of their lives”.

During the handover Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu handed over a symbolic tree and said, “The tree represents the package of ECD services that the Minister will lead, coordinate and monitor from this point onwards. The roots of the tree symbolise the foundations that we have already laid over the past 28 years. More than ever before, we all must work together to ensure that our ECD tree becomes the expression of inter-generational wisdom, progress, and prosperity”.

Zulu added that the latest employment data is painting a picture that says unemployment has climbed to 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021. This migration serves as a means by which we definitively challenge this job’s market narrative.

“Resulting from this handover to you Minister, we should be able to increase our collective investments in the foundation of the prospects of South Africa’s children. This is the opportunity to start dismantling inter-generational poverty among all our people”, she said.