With the enactment of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (BELA), Grade R is now compulsory. Yet by 2024, Grade R participation rates were already approaching universal coverage, suggesting that the legislation is unlikely to substantially increase overall participation. This paper uses a combination of administrative school data, SASE student survey data, and ELP data from the Thrive by Five Index 2024 to estimate the scale and distribution of Grade R enrolment outside the school system.
