In honouring the Class of 2025 at the announcement of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results, Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube said that: “Tonight, I want to speak plainly about what these results tell us about the health of our system – where we are progressing, and where we must act with urgency to lift quality and strengthen equity. Over the past year, we have worked to stabilise governance across the system; rebuilt trust with provinces, districts, unions and partners; protected the fairness and credibility of national exams; and shifted the Department’s focus away from reactive crisis management toward long-term, strategic reform. The DBE is charting a new path with humility and with gratitude for those who came before. This path is a root-deep reform, guided by evidence and our relentless focus on what matters most, quality learning and teaching”. The event took place at the Mosaïek Church in Fairlands on 12 January 2026.

Since 2025, the education system has been turning toward its foundations in drawing inspiration from the Baobab tree, which does not grow quickly or rush skyward. It first grows downward, pushing its roots deep into difficult soil, surviving droughts and storms. Only later does it rise to offer shelter, nourishment, relief and stability for generations. No tree grows tall when its roots are weak and no education system transforms a nation while its foundations are weak.

The Minister added that: “we are strengthening early learning, expanding access whilst driving quality and readiness. More than 12,000 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres were registered in 2025, bringing the total registered to over 33,000. To expand access in our rural provinces, we established an Outcomes Based Education Fund, investing R496 million to expand safe, quality early learning and to create over 100,000 new learner spaces. In November 2025, we released the first-ever Funda Uphumelele National Survey to see where reading breaks down and expanding Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education. In November 2025, South Africa wrote its first bilingual Grade 4 assessments in Mathematics and Natural Science. We are improving the tools and conditions for learning in the earliest grades, finalising an updated National Catalogue of Learning and Teaching Support Materials for Grades 1 to 3 for the Foundation Phase classroom. We are strengthening teacher development to protect learning time, including prioritising bursaries for Foundation Phase student-teachers through Funza Lushaka. We are strengthening the National School Nutrition Programme and piloting an ECD nutrition programme to prevent child stunting caused by malnutrition. In June 2025, we strengthened the School Safety Protocol with the South African Police Service and in the first term of 2026, I will kick off an Anti-Bullying Campaign with MECs to intensify prevention, reporting and response at school level. This year, we will finalise the review of White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education for learning barriers to be identified and for support to reach learners where vulnerability is highest.”

The DBE is encouraged by enrolment increases in Mathematics and other key gateway subjects, such as Accounting, Physical Science and in technical subjects. Our next phase pairs higher participation with stronger support, better materials, targeted teacher development, and earlier intervention so learners arrive in these subjects ready to succeed. In township and rural communities, excellence is becoming a pattern with sustained growth in the number of learners from no-fee schools achieving Bachelor passes. That is a national message of hope that poverty is not a destiny. Social protection and education outcomes are linked, and the Department will engage with the Department of Social Development to find ways of ensuring that Grade 12 learners do not have their social grants discontinued during this important academic year.

Minister Gwarube concluded by saying: “Strengthening the foundations of learning is a national project: teachers and school leadership must protect learning time, use evidence-based early grade methods and support one another through collaboration and professional learning communities. Provinces and districts must prioritise ECDs, Foundation Phase staffing, timetables, teacher support and materials, because the early grades are where the future is decided, and communities and partners must support early learning and school safety with action and accountability. Reform requires patience, planning and sustained investment. Baobabs do not grow in a single season. The new course we have set for the basic education system is defined by deep roots, strong foundations and long vision”.