South Africa expands ECD subsidy to 954k children, targets 1M gap by 2030

South Africa's ECD subsidy now reaches over 954,000 children, but Minister Siviwe Gwarube highlighted a persistent access gap of roughly one million children. The 2026 Bana Pele Leadership Summit emphasized cross-sector collaboration and private investment to achieve universal early learning access by 2030, though funding and implementation details remain unclear.