Gwarube announces upcoming publication of Bela regulations for public comment

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the first two regulations for the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act will be published in the coming weeks.

Presenting the department budget for 2025/26 in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday afternoon, Gwarube said her department has actively supported the education sector to implement the Bela Act, which came into effect on December 24.

She said there has also been development of interim guidelines and draft regulations for further support and implementation.

“The first two regulations, which focused on admissions and capacity, will be published in the coming weeks for public comment. Further regulations will follow,” she said.

“This reflects our commitment to a legal and policy framework, which is responsive and fit for purpose. These broader efforts signal a broader shift to a more responsible, accountable leadership and a system that is grounded in purpose and growth.” 

The minister presented the budget after she and the provincial departments briefed the Basic Education Portfolio on the Bela Act regulations and implementation as they related to Grade R admissions.

Gwarube, who previously promised the regulations would be published by the end of June, reportedly told the portfolio committee that 10 task teams were established to handle each regulation, and two regulations, now with the State Law Advisor, were nearly finalised.

Committee chairperson Joy Maimela said in a statement that they had not been furnished with any guidelines or regulations.

“During our engagements with the provincial departments of education, it became apparent that the guidelines differ from the South African Schools Act. Some provincial departments are also confused about whether they received guidelines or regulations. This is the confusion we were concerned about from the start. If the provincial departments of education are confused, what about the general public and other stakeholders,” Maimale said.

She said the committee has requested Gwarube to provide a comprehensive report within four working days on the process that led to the drafting of the guidelines.

“The committee is of the view that the time spent for draft guidelines could have been utilised rather for drafting regulations. We need the detail of what led to the guidelines as we must discuss if we need to write to the Office of the President and explain the confusion created in the sector,” said Maimela.

Presenting the budget at the NCOP, Gwarube said the department’s budget was R35 billion.

She said the early childhood development grant has increased from R1.7 billion, with over R230 million allocated to early childhood development nutrition.

A total of R162m has been set aside for early childhood development infrastructure.

“Our goal is that every child must enter Grade 1 ready to learn cognitively, be ready emotionally and physically ready.”

Gwarube said improving foundational learning was at the heart of their strategy to ensure more learners progressed through the system, exited with quality results, and were better placed to study further, start sustainable businesses, or enter the job market.

“Our strategy places strong emphasis on string quality of early childhood and strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy.”

She said they have set themselves to register 10,000 early childhood development centres in the current financial year.

Gwarube also said they have developed learning and teaching support material to assist early childhood practitioners in effectively implementing their strategy.

 “We are also developing human resources development strategy just for early childhood development to guide professionalism of the sector. “

She added that the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme has been aligned to prioritise the foundation phase teaching.

“We have also begun the post-provision norms to improve post distribution and help provinces manage budget pressures.”

Gwarube said the national catalogue for Grades 1 to 3 was being updated to ensure learners received high-quality quality aligned materials.

“We anticipate that this new catalogue will be in place by 2026 for procurement from the 2027 school year.”

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za