Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, together with the Premier of Gauteng, Mr Panyaza Lesufi, awarded several prizes to the top performing teachers as part of the 25th National Teaching Awards (NTAs). The NTAs took place at Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Boksburg on 9 October 2025.
During the Award ceremony, the majority of the winners scooped top prizes ranging from cars to cash prize money. The NTAs were initiated by Prof Kader Asmal, former Minister of Education in 2000 to acknowledge the exceptional work demonstrated by the teachers in schools. Amongst the top winners were Mr Thulani Sibiya, the National Best Teacher Award winner from Mpumalanga; Mr Motseki Mofokeng, Kader Asmal Lifetime Achievement Award winner from the Free State and Ms Charnelle Arendse, Minister’s Special Award winner from Belmore Primary School, Western Cape who was nominated by pupil Jade Amos. The category was designed to honour the teachers who continue to make a significant positive impact in the holistic development of learners.
Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Dr Reginah Mhaule, congratulated all the NTA winners for maintaining a brighter spark at various schools where they work.
In his opening remarks, Premier Lesufi indicated that the NTAs were the appropriate platform for the sector to salute the hardworking teachers in the country. He thanked the DBE for sustaining the NTAs for 25 years, saying that teachers are the backbone of the nation and their exceptional work in transforming the landscape of education should not be underestimated. “We should continue to salute our teachers for their excellent work demonstrated in schools and their resilience should be strengthened to remain torch bearers of our nation.”
In her keynote address, Minister Gwarube reminded the attendees that South Africa’s G20 presidency has greatly benefited the Basic Education Sector: “As the Chair of the G20 Education Working Group, we placed, at the centre of the global agenda, three priorities: Quality foundational learning, ensuring every child can read, write and count confidently; Mutual Recognition of Qualifications; and Education Professional Development for a changing world. Through provincial education indabas, we took the G20 to the people, allowing teachers, principals, parents, learners, and civil society to shape the agenda”.
Minister Gwarube further pointed out the DBE will be expanding access to ECD programmes to address some of the learning gaps identified by international studies. “The Thrive by Five Index has shown that children who are not in any ECD programme are falling behind with their cognitive and physical development. I have hosted the Bana Pele ECD Registration Clinics in 5 of the 9 provinces to advocate for greater registration by ECD centre owners, so they can unlock funding and other support from the DBE. We set an ambitious target to register 10,000 ECD centres by 31 December 2025, I am proud to announce that we achieved that target three months ahead of time. We are moving decisively on compulsory Grade R. Provinces are doing what they can with the resources available, while we work with National Treasury to secure additional funding, to ensure that we roll out Grade R to all learners who require it. To make this a success, 7,000 Grade R practitioners will be funded and upskilled to become fully qualified Foundation Phase teachers.”
“Today, we celebrate you, not only the nominees and award winners in this room, but the thousands of teachers across our country who wake up every morning, step into classrooms, and change lives,” added Minister Gwarube. She extended her gratitude to the sponsors who contributed to the success of the 25th NTAs: “On behalf of the 485,000 teachers in this country, I want to say thank you for your contribution and commitment”. The Minister thanked the FirstRand Foundation; Via Africa; Allan Gray Philanthropies; Woolworths; Telkom Foundation; MTN Foundation; AVBOB; SANTAM; the Vodacom Foundation; SANLAM; the Hewlett Packard Foundation; Bic; the Shoprite Foundation; the ETDP SETA; and ELRC as partners who contributed to the success of the 25th NTA Silver Jubilee.