Early Childhood Development (ECD) parenting programmes are vital, especially in low-resource settings where children often lack access to formal early learning environments.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) parenting programmes are vital, especially in low-resource settings where children often lack access to formal early learning environments.

On the 29th of November, 2024, the Gauteng Department of Education held its first ever Early Childhood Development Mini Olympics . This event broght together early learning programmes (ELPs) across Gauteng, as well as key stakeholders and partners in the ECD sector. The event was aimed at celebrating children through sports, games and friendly competition. Mimicking the July 2024 Paris Olympics, the ECD Olympics opened with the South African National Anthem and a speech from MEC of Education, Sport, Art, Culture and Recreation, Mr Matome Chiloane. This was followed by a parade featuring children holding flags from different countries, accompanied by a

In January 2024, the Minister of Basic Education announced a new mass registration drive for ECD programmes.  This means that the government will support registration of ECD programmes by using a simpler and user-friendly online registration system. The goal is to pull every ECD programme into the regulatory net, and to support ECD programmes in all communities to comply with legal requirements, by recognising the different contexts in which they operate. The new Mass Registration process will be implemented in a phased approach to ensure complete testing of the new enabling tools in the pilot sites in Gauteng. The pilot will shape