The Department of Social Development says it has received about 27 000 applications from various civil society groups for financial assistance in their Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in line with the COVID-19 pandemic relief fund.
The COVID-19 relief funding by government for ECD has also been extended for another three months.
Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu told journalists through a virtual media briefing in Cape Town that while the pandemic has caused a lot of distress to many learners who come from poor families, it has provided some opportunities for all the relevant stakeholders to roll up their sleeves.
“We have now received 27 000 ECD applications – to have such accurate information on ECD programmes and the size of the workforce. Indeed COVID-19 has brought many challenges, but at the same time this shows the opportunities it has brought to government and the ECD sector. This data will help us in moving forward in planning and processing our systems to enable us to have informed targeted interventions,” explains Zulu.
Below is the live stream of the media briefing:
