BELA Regulations Update; Children’s A/B

Video The Department of Basic Education (DBE) gave a virtual briefing on schools for learners with special educational needs as well as the second Children’s Amendment Bill which had been approved by Cabinet in May 2026. The Minister outlined the importance of the Children’s Amendment Bill and inclusive education. The Bill seeks to consolidate the regulation of Early Childhood Development (ECD) under the Department of Basic Education, introduce a single registration system and reduce regulatory barriers affecting ECD programmes, particularly those operating in poor and underserved communities. She highlighted progress and remaining challenges in implementing the Education White Paper 6 on Special Needs Education, emphasising that meaningful inclusion requires more than placing learners with disabilities in ordinary schools. DBE said the Children’s Amendment Bill awaiting introduction into Parliament ensures a single registration process, revised norms and standards, recognition of different ECD modalities, improved data management and greater support for vulnerable communities. Extensive consultation had taken place with more than 1,645 submissions. Committee members had concerns about the discretionary nature of ECD funding, the affordability of ECD services, the remuneration and career development of practitioners, municipal regulatory barriers, compliance requirements and the ability of rural and community-based programmes to access subsidies. The Department explained that it had developed a ten-year ECD funding strategy with National Treasury, with R10 billion allocated over the 2025/26 MTEF period, and had set a target of registering an additional 4,000 ECD programmes during the financial year. It also reported on a pilot compliance-support initiative and plans to progressively increase the ECD subsidy. In its briefing on inclusive education and learners with disabilities, DBE reported that there were approximately 85,082 learners with disabilities in ordinary public schools and 121,459 learners in special schools. Committee members raised concerns about the shortage of special and full-service schools, particularly in rural areas, inadequate infrastructure, assistive devices, specialist personnel, learner placement, scholar transport, specialised learning materials and disparities between provinces. The Minister acknowledged that inclusive education remained under-resourced and unevenly implemented. She stressed that inclusion must be measured by the actual experiences of learners and not merely by policy documents or reported statistics. The review of Education White Paper 6 should be properly costed and accompanied by clear timelines, measurable targets and identified resource requirements. In its responses, DBE committed to providing information on infrastructure projects, rural provision and corrective measures for scholar transport. It also explained that the Children’s Amendment Bill seeks to avoid creating a “poverty trap” by recognising different ECD models and adopting context-sensitive norms and standards. It confirmed that conditional registration and compliance support would assist programmes that currently struggle to meet regulatory requirements. DBE acknowledged that the current R24 per-child-per-day ECD subsidy was inadequate and that the long-term target was R48 per child per day, subject to progressive funding increases.