R12.8 billion boost for Early Childhood Development services to benefit 300 000 children
The early childhood development grant will receive an additional R12.8 billion over the next three years, expanding service to an additional 300,000 children.
Image: Unsplash
The National Treasury is set to provide a significant financial boost to Early Childhood Development (ECD), enabling services to reach an additional 300,000 children.
The announcement was made by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana during his Budget Speech on Wednesday. He highlighted that education continues to be the largest area of expenditure, accounting for 23.7% of the consolidated budget over the medium term.
“Basic education receives R22.7 billion for carry-through costs announced in May 2025. Early childhood development receives the majority of these funds.
An additional R12.8 billion has been allocated to expand ECD services to another 300,000 children.
Image: Supplied
“R9.9 billion supports employee compensation and other pressures in education. Early childhood development grant receives an additional R12.8 billion over the next three years, expanding service to an additional 300,000 children,” Godongwana said.
“This will also maintain the increased per-child, per-day subsidy of R24 introduced in 2025/26. The increased allocations align the National School Nutrition Programme with food inflation to continue providing meals to over 9.9 million learners in almost 20,000 schools.”
The minister explained that Learning and Culture constitutes the largest component of consolidated expenditure by function at 23.7% over the medium term, while economic regulation and infrastructure is the fastest-growing component at 8%.
“This function includes basic education, post-school education and training, and sport, arts and culture. The basic education component receives 68.1% of total allocations.
“Provincial education budgets grow by 4.2 % over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period. Provinces’ spending is dominated by compensation of employees, at 77.7%.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will also spend R54.3 billion in 2026/27 to provide bursaries to enable 744,203 poor and academically deserving students to access universities and technical and vocational education and training colleges.
“The skills development levy paid by employers funds the sector education and training authorities and the National Skills Fund to provide skills development and training. Levy income is projected to be R88.2 billion over the 2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period.
“These institutions are struggling to deliver the skills required to drive economic growth. The National Treasury has commissioned the Government Technical Advisory Centre to conduct a comprehensive review of the national skills ecosystem in the year ahead,” Godngwana said.
“Arts, culture, sport and recreation will spend R38.5 billion over the medium term to support school sports; promote cultural, heritage and linguistic diversity; and foster nation-building and social cohesion.”
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