Underfunding for compulsory Grade R has emerged as a major concern after the department of basic education debated the budget vote this week.
The debate followed deliberations in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) earlier in the week, where provinces warned that without structural adjustments and adequate funding, the system remained at risk of further deterioration.
Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube confirmed the department had not secured additional funding from the Treasury to implement compulsory Grade R, as required by the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act. “We look to the National Treasury to secure additional funding to ensure universal Grade R access,” she said. Provinces will be expected to fund the rollout from within their existing allocations.
The department has been allocated R35.5bn for the 2025/26 financial year, with R30.1bn transferred to provinces. Gwarube said the sector faced significant financial pressure, citing unfilled posts, infrastructure backlogs and disruptions to pupil support services. She directed provinces to submit financial recovery plans to address service delivery breakdowns and compliance issues.
Opposition parties rejected the budget, linking the lack of early learning investment to the country’s persistent dropout crisis. The EFF’s Mandla Shikwambana said: “Each year, 1.2-million children register for Grade 1, but only about 700,000 write matric. That means the system loses about 500,000 learners annually.” He said the department’s focus on matric results masked deeper systemic failures, and he called for urgent investment in early childhood development, infrastructure and digital access.
The dropout trend is supported by national data. According to the department of basic education’s 2023 General Household Survey, only 52% of learners who start Grade 1 reach and pass matric 12 years later. The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found that 81% of Grade 4 learners in SA could not read for meaning — a key predictor of future academic success and retention. The department acknowledged that nearly half (49%) of youth aged 19-24 years who passed matric were not in education, employment or training (NEET), and that the NEET rate for those who dropped out before matric exceeded 70%.
The MK party’s Pinky Mngadi said: “This is a budget of betrayal. It keeps the poor trapped in poverty and denies black children their right to dignity and a future.” She cited the department’s own 2025 figures showing that more than 1,100 schools in the Eastern Cape and more than 440 in Limpopo still had unsafe sanitation. “Yet in 2025, the department left R620m in infrastructure grants unspent, and R2.8bn meant for school infrastructure was diverted to disaster relief,” she said.
Earlier in the week at the NCOP debate, Western Cape member of the provincial legislature (MPL) Leon van Wyk warned that rising debt-service costs were crowding out essential education spending. He said that while provincial education budgets had grown, nearly all of the increase had been absorbed by compensation of employees, leaving limited resources for textbooks, school meals and maintenance. He described the introduction of compulsory Grade R as a major unfunded mandate.
Gwarube reiterated the department’s commitment to foundational learning, stating that all children must be able to read with meaning by age 10. She said 10,000 early childhood development centres would be registered in the current financial year, supported by a new Early Childhood Development (ECD) Bill and targeted infrastructure funding.
ANC MP Joy Maimela called for full implementation of the Bela Act. “If you are indeed a builder, you ought to fully implement that act,” she said. “This act is vital for closing the barriers that hinder equitable access to education.”
Gwarube concluded by urging MPs to support the budget, “not only out of party loyalty but in service of the children whose future depends on it”. She said the lives of 13.5-million learners depended on the decisions made in parliament.
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