The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) recently tabled its 2022/23 Budget vote on Tuesday earlier this week.
While delivering his speech, Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi indicated that the provincial department aims to prioritise a variety of relevant changes aimed at further developing some of its sub-sectors.
He emphasised the importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) as a critical stage in a child's development and praised the successful transition of the ECD function from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health.
Furthermore, the provincial department also said that it has also considered the possibility of registering ECD practitioners for full-time programmes on an annual basis.
The MEC went on to say that all Grade R practitioners must obtain a minimum qualification and skills to teach Grade R in order to improve the quality of their teaching. The Department plans to register practitioners for full-time programmes once a year.
In addition to this, the Department plans to enrol 400 Grade R practitioners for a Bachelor of Education degree and 500 Pre-grade R practitioners for upskilling on ECD NQF Level 4 in 2022/23.
Lesufi added that in order to take additional steps to guarantee that everyone gets access to Grade R, approximately 164 000 pupils have received ECD in schools and community-based settings. Grade R will be extended to all public primary schools in communities regardless of socioeconomic status.
