ECD forms and contacts for Free State
The Free State does publish real ECD subsidy paperwork on its own domain — I retrieved two live DOCX files at education.fs.gov.za: the department's Standard Operating Procedure for the annual ECD subsidy, and the actual application pack containing Form 1 (application for ECD subsidy) and Form 2 (list of eligible children), which the file itself titles "ANNEXURE A: FORMS". The catch is severe and must be stated plainly: every HTML page on www.education.fs.gov.za, including the homepage, the ECD section and the Forms page, currently returns HTTP 500 "Error establishing a database connection" on repeated attempts, so the site is un-navigable and these documents are only reachable by direct file URL — I found them via search engine indexing, not by browsing the site. Registration itself has moved to the national DBE eCares portal under the Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive, where Free State is one of the first two fully operational provinces, and no province-hosted copy of Form 11, 16, 29, 30 or Annexure B/C exists on the Free State domain — only an NGO mirror of Form 11 and a superseded 2012 Social Development guide.
Every link on this page was opened and checked on 2026-08-31.
Government sites move things without notice, so if one has broken since, tell us on WhatsApp and we will fix it the same day. Always confirm the current version with your district office before you submit.
Forms you can download for Free State
These are published by Free State Education Department or by a national government source that applies here.
| Form | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Form 11: Application for the Registration / Conditional Registration / Renewal of Registration / Reinstatement of a Partial Care Facility (Regulation 14, Children's Act 38 of 2005)
Form 11 |
NGO MIRROR (Centre for Early Childhood Development), NOT a government domain. Included because I could find NO copy of Form 11 on any Free State provincial domain or on gov.za. I opened the file and confirmed it is the genuine statutory Form 11 under Regulation 14: it opens by asking the nature of the application across the six partial care categories (crèche birth to 3 years, educare centre 3 years to school-going age, after-school centre, private hostel, temporary respite care facility, place of care for children with disabilities requiring a high level of support), then Part B particulars of the applicant and physical address. CAVEAT: file dates from 2020 and is NGO-hosted, so verify the current version against the district office before relying on it. Use it to see what will be asked, not as the authoritative submission copy. |
| SOP 2024-25 ECD Subsidy process (final) — "Standard Operating Procedure: Annual ECD Subsidy Administration"
Defines Forms 1-7 (incl. Form 6 Income & Expenditure, Form 7 Quarterly Attendance) |
PROVINCE'S OWN DOMAIN. The single most useful document found. A 77KB Word file, version 1, effective 31 October 2023, that details every step of the subsidy cycle from call-for-applications to final annual reporting. It formally names the whole form set: Form 1 Application for ECD subsidy, Form 2 List of children eligible, Form 3 Checklist for subsidy assessment, Form 4 Outcome of application, Form 5 Service Level Agreement, Form 6 Income and Expenditure Report, Form 7 ECD Subsidy Quarterly Attendance Report — i.e. this confirms the Form 6/Form 7 quarterly returns are real and what they are called in Free State. It also names the Excel templates (Intake Register, District list, monthly IYM financial report, quarterly financial and performance reports, annual financial report trackers). Critically for an owner, it shows the process runs through the District ECD Coordinator and the District Social Work Supervisor, who compile the district list of programmes recommended for subsidy — so the district office, not the head office, is where an application actually lives. NOTE: Forms 3-7 themselves are NOT published on the site; only their names appear here. Cites NIECDP 2015, Children's Act 38 of 2005, PFMA, and DBE ECD Subsidy Guidelines approved by CEM 08/09/2023. |
| Forms 1 and 2 — "ANNEXURE A: FORMS" (Application forms for ECD subsidy)
Form 1 and Form 2 (published as Annexure A) |
PROVINCE'S OWN DOMAIN. The actual fillable application pack, 251KB Word file, uploaded November 2025 — the most recent ECD document on the site. Form 1 'Application for ECD subsidy' has Parts A-F: Part A contact details plus EMIS number, Partial Care Facility registration number and ECD Programme registration number and whether registration is conditional; Part B current enrolment and age profile in the four subsidy age bands (1-18 months, 18-36, 37-59, 60 months and older) plus children with disabilities, number of places applied for, and days/hours of operation; Part C the income means-test evidence per child (Child Support Grant proof, Foster Care Grant proof, affidavit of income, or documentary proof); Part D fees charged per day/week/month/term/year and estimated annual fee income. Form 2 is the list of children eligible for the subsidy. The form states in terms that the application will NOT be considered unless a completed Form 2 is attached, and that subsidies are only allocated to children whose income information passes the prescribed means test. This is the document a Free State crèche owner actually fills in. |
| How to Register an ECD Centre (Free State Department of Social Development) | FREE STATE PROVINCIAL DOMAIN (Social Development, not Education). CAUTION — OUTDATED, USE FOR BACKGROUND ONLY. A 113KB plain-language guide covering what an ECD centre is, basic registration requirements (fenced secure building, toilets/potties, daily menu, daily programme and toys, adequate staff), the role of the local municipality in giving right of use and a health clearance certificate, MEC approval on the recommendation of the department, provisional registration where minimum standards are not met, and annual quality-assurance inspection. It is dated 2012 and instructs applicants to contact the Department of Social Development — that routing is SUPERSEDED, because the ECD function transferred to the education departments in April 2022. Do not send an owner to Social Development on the strength of this document; the process content is still broadly accurate but the responsible department named in it is wrong. |
| Registration of Early Childhood Development Services — Vangasali Guidelines | NGO SOURCE (Nelson Mandela Foundation), not government. A 2.4MB guide to registering ECD services, produced for the national Vangasali campaign that preceded Bana Pele. Not Free State specific. Verified as loading at 200; included as a plain-language fallback explainer for owners who find the statutory forms impenetrable, and explicitly flagged as an NGO document with no official standing. |
The national route, which works in every province
Registration now runs through the DBE's Bana Pele drive and the eCares system, whichever province you are in. Registration is free — nobody should be charging you for it.
- eCares registration portal (DBE) — create an account and lodge the application
- Bana Pele registration drive (DBE) — the process, the documents needed, and the current provincial rollout
- eCares resource hub — guides for applying, fixing a rejected application, and linking an already-registered centre
- Call centre 0800 202 933 · banapele@dbe.gov.za
Other Free State pages worth having open
- Register ECD partial care facilities (South African Government services page) — NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DOMAIN. Loads fine, but WARN OWNERS ABOUT THIS PAGE. It names Form 11 and says it 'is available at your nearest department of social development or municipal office', and it links to Department of Social Development provincial offices. That routing is stale — ECD moved to Basic Education in April 2022. It provides no downloadable form. Recorded here specifically so nobody is sent to Social Development on the strength of a gov.za page that still reads as current.
- eCares user registration — Early Childhood Administrative and Reporting System (DBE) — NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DOMAIN. The live online registration portal for the Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive, and the route that matters most right now because Free State is one of the first two provinces (with Gauteng) reported fully operational on it. Returns HTTP 200 and serves the eCares registration application shell (the served HTML loads an asset bundle literally named 'ecares-registration-page'). HONEST LIMITATION: it is a JavaScript single-page application, so a plain fetch returns only the app shell — I confirmed the page and the eCares registration bundle load, but I could not render or inspect the actual form fields, and I cannot confirm from fetching alone that submissions are currently being accepted. Treat as 'portal confirmed live, contents unverified'.
- eCares main application — NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DOMAIN. The root of the eCares system, redirecting to the ECD application at ecd.dbecares.gov.za. Also a JavaScript single-page app (page title renders as 'Helium', the underlying app framework name, not an ECD-branded title) so only the shell was verifiable. Useful mainly as the sign-in destination once an owner has an eCares account; send owners to the /user-registration/ URL above first.
- Minister Gwarube oversees Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive clinic in the Free State Province — NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DOMAIN, and specifically about the Free State. Reports the fourth provincial Bana Pele ECD registration clinic held 14 August 2025 at Thuto Imdaad ECD Centre in Bloemfontein. Two things here are directly useful to a crèche owner: the Minister's on-record statement that government has no plan to shut down any ECD centre and only expects centres to register so they can be helped, which addresses the single biggest reason unregistered owners avoid the process; and the confirmation that help with registration continues to be available after the clinics, with local NGOs in each province assisting with applications, document completion and site compliance verification. Carries the DBE call centre number.
- Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive aims to register ECD Programmes — NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DOMAIN. Explains the Bana Pele drive and states that practitioners receive live support from a contact centre agent to complete their applications on the eCares system. Confirms the drive was live in Gauteng and the Free State first before national rollout. Does not itself list required documents, does not give the eCares URL, and does not explain the bronze/silver/gold registration tiers — so it is context, not a how-to.
Who to phone in Free State
For most owners this section is worth more than any PDF. These are published by the department itself.
| Who | Details |
|---|---|
| Free State Education Department — head office, physical address (seat of the department, Bloemfontein) | 55 Elizabeth Street, FS Provincial Government Building, Bloemfontein |
| Free State Education Department — head office switchboard | 051 404 8000 |
| Free State MEC for Education (political head named on the national DBE provincial directory) | Dr MJ Maboya |
| DBE national call centre — the working route for Bana Pele / eCares registration support while the Free State website is down | 0800 202 933 (toll-free) |
| DBE national call centre email | callcentre@dbe.gov.za |
| DBE head office switchboard | 012 357 3000 |
| Free State Bana Pele registration clinic venue (where the provincial registration clinic was held 14 Aug 2025 — indicative of where local clinics run, not a permanent office) | Thuto Imdaad ECD Centre, Bloemfontein |
Registration is free. If somebody offers to register your centre for a fee, they are selling you something the state gives away. Use the call centre number above instead.
Once you are registered, the paperwork does not stop.
The subsidy is kept by the quarterly returns, not the registration certificate. Zande builds them from the attendance you already mark and the costs you already record.
Get started free →