Compulsory grade R will be enforced from January 2026 under the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act, yet no additional budget allocation has been made to support its rollout, raising serious concerns about the feasibility of implementation across provinces.
This was the central issue emerging from Thursday’s social security cluster briefing, where the portfolio committee on basic education chairperson, MP Joy Maimela, addressed the recently gazetted regulations and their operational readiness.
The committee has raised concerns that, despite Bela’s equity mandate, its implementation trajectory may deepen existing disparities.
The act, signed into law in September 2024, redefines basic education to include grade R. All children turning five by June 30 in the year of admission must now be enrolled. However, despite internal estimates placing the cost of universal rollout at R17bn, the Treasury has not earmarked additional funding across three budget cycles.
According to departmental costings for with the new regulatory requirements under Bela, an estimated R5bn will be needed to cover additional educator salaries, while about R12bn is projected for infrastructure upgrades, including classroom expansion and sanitation improvements. Provinces are expected to absorb the mandate within existing allocations, a model that has already strained operational budgets and raised alarm among education officials.
While Bela became operational in December 2024, only two of the 10 required regulations have been gazetted to date, raising concerns about fragmented implementation. The gazetted clauses pertain to school capacity norms and learner admissions, both of which are foundational but insufficient to support the full rollout of compulsory grade R.
The remaining eight regulations, including those governing language policy, school governance, educator conduct, homeschooling, infrastructure standards, disciplinary procedures, curriculum and assessment protocols, and financial oversight mechanisms, are still undergoing legal vetting.
According to the basic education department, these will be released in phases, though no definitive timeline has been provided.
Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube has defended the staggered approach, citing the need for procedural caution and legal clarity.
However, oversight bodies and civil society organisations have warned this piecemeal rollout risks undermining the coherence and urgency of Bela’s equity mandate.
Maimela echoed these concerns in early August, stating that “SA’s children cannot afford to wait for bureaucratic caution or political compromise”.
She emphasised that without a unified regulatory framework provinces had to interpret and implement the act unevenly, worsening existing disparities.
The two gazetted regulations establish minimum norms for classroom capacity and outline revised admissions protocols. The capacity regulation mandates a 60m² minimum for grade R classrooms for up to 33 learners, while the admissions regulation requires inclusive policies that consider community demographics. But the latter grants final authority to provincial heads of department, raising concern about the erosion of school governing bodies’ autonomy and the potential for exclusionary practices.
Maimela confirmed that the basic education department missed its June deadline for full publication of the regulations, and warned that the piecemeal release “creates confusion and risks diluting the Bela Act’s transformative intent”.
The committee has expressed concern that the admissions regulation, which allows department heads to determine feeder zones based on “surrounding community demographics”, contradicts the act’s reference to broader education districts.
Maimela stated that this approach “potentially reinforces local demographic homogeneity, contrary to the type of inclusivity the act intended”. She added that the regulations appeared to reintroduce provisions previously rejected during the legislative drafting process, and called on the basic education department to reconsider the gazetted regulations.
Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape exemplify the disparities in readiness. Mpumalanga has expanded grade R enrolment to 178,932 learners, yet 198 schools still lack grade R classes. The Eastern Cape, in comparison, has monitored only 168 schools for policy compliance under a revised mediation plan, with officials citing delays in infrastructure upgrades and educator training. These figures were confirmed in departmental submissions to the committee.
By contrast, the Western Cape has issued a grade R procedural manual, a financial manual for public and independent sites, and urged education facilities with sufficient infrastructure to expand learner intake. An online grade R subsidisation system, operational since 2017, allows schools and early childhood development (ECD) centres to track payment approvals. A recent audit found 987 grade R teachers in substantive posts, of whom 831 hold the required NQF Level 6 qualification. Despite this, the province has not received additional funding to hire new educators or expand classroom space.
The committee also raised concerns about the capacitation of grade R practitioners. Maimela noted that many educators lack specialised training and that provincial budgets for mentorship and professional development are insufficient.
She called on the department to “urgently institute comprehensive training and support for grade R educators, prioritising both rural and township schools”.
Legal contestation over Bela continues. On July 22, the Pestalozzi Trust filed an application with the Constitutional Court seeking to declare the act invalid, citing procedural flaws in parliament’s public participation process. The trust argues that the requirements of section 59 of the constitution and the public participation framework have not been met, and has requested a two-year suspension of any order of invalidity to allow parliament to rectify the process.
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