The impact made by Umalusi in the standardisation of qualifications on General and Further Education and Training in South Africa remains unchallenged since its inception in 2001. The transition of education required an independent body that was resilient in interrogating the level of education inequality, which was mostly exacerbated by the non-existence of the National Assessment and Public examination in the South African education system prior to 1994. The Umalusi Council is responsible for the development and management of a sub-framework of qualifications for General and Further education and training from NQF levels 1-4 and the attendant quality assurance, research and certification processes. The Council is also responsible for advising the Ministries of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training on matters related to the General and Further Education and Training Qualifications Framework.

Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, delivered her keynote address at Umalusi’s 20^th Anniversary Celebration held at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria on 6 September 2022. The Anniversary was organised by the CEO of Umalusi, Dr Mafu Rakometsi, to acknowledge the role played by the previous councils of Umalusi in strengthening its aim in improving the quality of education in South Africa. According to Dr Rakometsi, Umalusi grew in leaps and bounds over the past twenty years. “Umalusi experienced significant growth in staff complement from seven employees in 2002 to approximately 140 in 2022. The introduction of the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) in 2007 and the National Senior certificate (NSC) in 2008 resulted in Umalusi strengthening its standards setting approaches to make them fit for purpose and comparable internationally. In its quest to promote inclusivity, Umalusi has, since 2012, made the content of the NSC certificates accessible to visually impaired and blind learners in the form of braille transcripts. Umalusi also launched the Online Application System for Replacement Certificates, a service dedicated to applicants whose original certificates are lost or damaged. The motivation for this is the need to reduce costs and the turn-around time for the provision of this service,” he explained.

Minister Motshekga said that Umalusi created uniformity in the basic education sector and pointed out that through Umalusi, South Africa’s education system was benchmarked with the best education systems in the world. Apart from congratulating Umalusi for its 20^th Anniversary, Minister Motshekga also installed the sixth Umalusi Council, under the Chairpersonship of Prof Yunus Ballim, to serve a four-year term until 7 June 2026. “As Council members, you have a straightforward task. Yours is to perform your fiduciary duties diligently. You have a duty to contribute to ensuring that the Council makes decisions that align the best interests of Umalusi with its mandate of continuous improvement of the quality of education. I congratulate Umalusi, the caretaker of one of the nation’s most treasured assets - the standards of general and further education and training, for its resilience over the last twenty years. From its humble beginnings, Umalusi has grown to be a recognised brand in the basic and post-school education sector in South Africa. Umalusi has significantly contributed to improving the quality of our education and training system and provided advice on how to set, measure and assess and track educational standards within the context of a diverse and unequal society such as South Africa. Using its robust quality assurance approaches, Umalusi successfully managed, from a quality assurance point of view, the transition from the Senior Certificate (SC) to the NSC in 2008. As you are aware, the NSC ensures that every learner in the country writes the same examination and is therefore assessed against a common yardstick,” concluded the Minister.