The department of basic education DBE says it has trained 2,670 early childhood development ECD practitioners in the 2024/2025 financial year on the national curriculum framework NCF for children aged birth to four.
It said this is part of efforts to strengthen foundational learning across the country.
Responding to a parliamentary question from MP Delmaine Chelsey Christians, the department revealed it has significantly scaled up training since the ECD function shift from the department of social development to basic education in April 2022.
In addition to the 2,670 practitioners trained in 2024/2025, the department said:
- 20,027 were trained in 2023/24
- 11,681 in 2022/23
- 930 in 2021/22
- 1,752 in 2020/21 and
- 14,008 in 2019/20.
Regarding qualifications aligned to the national qualifications framework NQF level 4, the department reported training: