The Office of the Director-General, in collaboration with the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), has been conducting the verification of education employees and learners within eight provinces. All provinces are part of the physical verification process, except for the Western Cape Province, which has its own system in place.

Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, has been conducting regular meetings with Heads of Departments (HODs), Deputy Directors-General (DDGs), Chief Directors, District Directors, Governance, Human Resources, and Education Management Information System (EMIS) officials who are supporting the data capturing process within the various education districts.

The virtual training sessions for primary, secondary, and special school principals on the verification of educators and learners’ system, using the online Integrated School Data Collection Platform (ISDCP), have been ongoing since September 2025. The training, which is facilitated by Heads of Departments, District Directors, and Circuit Managers, was recorded during the meetings. The meeting link was shared with the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) to assist with the methodology of the data collection process.

School principals are leading the implementation of the project for the physical verification of education employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff employed by Government, and learners at approximately 21,183 public schools nationwide (excluding Western Cape). These are important variables that inform the distribution of resources to schools. This verification does not intend to replace or render redundant the existing data collection mechanisms or sources of data such as the SA-SAMS or LURITS but seeks to verify the accuracy of data.

DG Mweli expressed his gratitude to the ELRC for generously making this service and funding available, as well as to the service provider, Mr Chris Grobler and his team, for driving the implementation. He explained that “the DBE expects every public school to comply and assist with the capturing of data as it will assist to enhance the currency and validity of our data”.

The ISDCP offers a central source of truth, to which the Principal, South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), Autonomous Teacher Unions (ATU), School Governing Bodies (SGBs), and the Circuit Manager representatives agreed, eliminating the risk of misinterpretation or falsification of headcount-related data. The ISDCP procedure is a precise, evidence-based report for post-provisioning decisions, with the focus on four critical areas or data pillars: Learner Data (enrolment figures, undocumented learners, and demographic as well as subject-specific distributions); Educator Data (educator numbers, employment status, workloads, and posts); School Resource and Infrastructure Data (facilities, equipment, security measures, and operational challenges); and School Management Data (leadership roles, training initiatives, and self-assessment activities aimed at capacity building).

Key platform features include an intuitive user interface and streamlined design for seamless navigation and data entry; automatic data saving; device caching for resilience; real-time accuracy checks; AI-assisted workflow; short training videos; online support and training; and smart connectivity, meaning that the platform offers powerful offline capability that supports out-of-connectivity use of the platform. A few challenges have been identified, such as connectivity and technical support with login credentials. However, Provincial Steering Committees are in place, and a train-the-trainer model has been implemented in many schools to assist with data completion before the deadline.

In a resounding success for national education initiatives, the ISDCP has achieved an extraordinary 99.94% completion rate for headcount data submissions from public schools in the participating provinces across South Africa. As at 08:00 on 31 October, 21,171 schools had successfully submitted their data, all within three weeks of the project's nationwide launch.

This milestone highlights the dedication of educators, administrators, and stakeholders in streamlining data collection to support informed decision-making in the education sector. The rapid participation demonstrates the effectiveness of the ISDCP framework in facilitating accurate and timely headcount reporting, which includes aggregate numbers of learners and staff without compromising individual privacy.

Building on this momentum, ISDCP advances to Phase 2, scheduled from 7 to 10 November 2025. This phase shifts focus to verifying office-based personnel, ensuring accurate records for administrative efficiency. Key activities include: Provincial office-based staff headcount and verification, incorporating ID documents and headshots for secure identification; and DBE staff headcount and verification, similarly using ID documents and headshots. Following completion, comprehensive analysis and reporting – mirroring Phase 1's structure – will be provided to the ELRC and the DBE.