Compulsory Grade R means nothing without early intervention — we can’t build the house from the roof down

A recent Daily Maverick article (15 January 2026) on the stumbling blocks of compulsory Grade R highlights a painful truth: policy is moving faster than implementation, and children are paying the price. A mandate without the budget, infrastructure or workforce readiness to make it work risks formalising poor-quality provision rather than improving outcomes.

How can a law be implemented when the system is not prepared to uphold it? If compulsory Grade R is to be more than a slogan, the state must confront an urgent question: how can attendance be made mandatory when the system lacks the qualified workforce required to deliver quality learning?

Thousands of Grade R practitioners still need supported upskilling to meet minimum qualification requirements. Many schools lack classroom space, learning materials and referral systems capable of absorbing younger children. Making Grade R compulsory without first ensuring that teachers are qualified risks entrenching low-quality provision and doing little for the children who need the strongest start. Compulsory attendance will only benefit pupils if it is underpinned by a funded, time-bound plan to upskill practitioners, expand classroom capacity and provide transitional support for community-based early childhood development (ECD) providers.

A central readiness gap is the Grade R workforce. Independent reporting and parliamentary briefings place the immediate audit figure at 7,294 practitioners who do not meet the NQF Level 6 requirement. Union briefings estimate the broader workforce gap at about 13,089 practitioners who still need to upgrade their qualifications. These are not abstract numbers – they represent classrooms where children may not receive curriculum-aligned, developmentally appropriate teaching.

The Department of Basic Education has acknowledged the problem and negotiated an upgrading pathway with the University of South Africa (Unisa), supported by an initial ETDP Seta commitment to fund the first year of upskilling. Provinces have been asked to include Grade R upgrades in their annual plans. Yet the pathway is complex: Unisa has discontinued the old Grade R diploma; many practitioners lack matric; and application and eligibility constraints mean the process will require time, targeted support and sustained funding. Without a clear, costed and time-bound plan to upskill practitioners and expand classroom capacity, compulsory attendance risks entrenching low-quality provision.

In my work with mothers and babies from birth to age two in underresourced communities, I see daily how early intervention – responsive caregiving, stimulation and caregiver support – shapes school readiness. By the time children reach Grade R, missed opportunities in the 0-2 window are difficult to reverse. Compulsory Grade R will only benefit pupils if it is anchored by transitional support for community ECD providers, accelerated upskilling for practitioners and clear provincial targets for absorption and placement.

One of our ECD assistants, who is also a mother, recently shared her story. She prefers to remain anonymous, but her experience mirrors that of countless families across the country.

When she noticed her son, now in Grade 3, struggling with reading and spelling, she did everything a parent is expected to do: sought medical help, followed referrals and advocated for her child. Yet the system failed her repeatedly:

• Assessments delayed for months;
• A full year lost with no communication;
• Bullying ignored;
• Specialised placement stuck in bureaucratic limbo; and
• A mother left to chase answers that should have been offered proactively.

Her story is not an exception, it is a symptom of a system operating beyond capacity. And the Daily Maverick article confirms this: overcrowded schools, no dedicated funding and thousands of unplaced pupils are not isolated incidents but national patterns.

This is why early intervention cannot begin at Grade R. By the time a child reaches school the window for foundational development has already narrowed. If we want children to succeed in Grade R, we must support their development from birth – through responsive caregiving, early movement, maternal support and community-based programmes that meet families where they are.

Compulsory Grade R is not the problem. The problem is that we are trying to build the house from the roof down.

South Africa needs:

• Integrated early childhood systems that connect health, education and social services;
• Properly funded early intervention programmes;
• Schools equipped to identify developmental challenges early; and
• Policies that reflect the lived realities of underresourced communities, not just administrative targets.

Behind every statistic is a child waiting for support and a parent fighting not to give up. Until policy, practice and lived experience align, compulsory Grade R will remain a promise unfulfilled.

As someone deeply committed to strengthening early childhood development in South Africa, I remain dedicated to advocating for the earliest years, knowing that this is where the foundations of lifelong learning are built. DM

Monja Boonzaier is the founder of Hamba Bamba Funda, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to strengthening early childhood development from birth to age two in underresourced communities.