Director-General for the Department of Basic Education, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, has urged education districts to institutionalise engagement platforms through which various education experts can consistently exchange views to sustain quality learning and teaching in the General Education and Training (GET) band. Mr Mweli shared the insight during his visit to education districts in the Gauteng Province from 9 to 12 March 2026. During the visit, he met with various education experts from four districts, including Ekurhuleni; Sedibeng East; Sedibeng West and Johannesburg East Education District. During January to February 2026, the DG successfully visited 11 of the 15 districts in the province and his aim is to visit all 75 education districts across all nine provinces by June 2026.
The DBE's intervention support to education districts in strengthening Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS), focusing mainly on the GET, will shift a needle in terms of addressing learning barriers in the early years of children’s schooling, according to various education district officials. The programme continues to put pressure on all education experts, including subject advisors, curriculum specialists and circuit managers, to keep School Management Teams (SMTs) on their toes in terms of delivering education of the highest quality in their respective schools.
In their presentations, district directors confirmed that the majority of schools were doing well in increasing the throughput rate in several subjects, including gateway subjects. However, participation rates in Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Accounting were found to be stagnant. The district directors committed towards working closely with schools to increase participation rates in gateway subjects. Many learners are preferring Maths Literacy as opposed to Mathematics and Technical Mathematics and this tendency should be discouraged at all costs.
Another issue that keeps resurfacing in the discussions is the mobilisation of learner application for the Concessions and Accommodation Policy. During the presentations, DG Mweli learnt that many applications for the Policy at the district level were turned down due to lack of evidence from medical practitioners supporting learning barriers encountered by the applicants. Mr Mweli then told the education districts that the issue of Concessions and Accommodation can be effectively addressed by tightening the screening of learners as early as Grade R. As such, the system will be able to build consolidated learner profiles for consideration at the later stage. The visits were successfully conducted, and all the engagement sessions were fruitful; however, the performance of learners in home languages is still concerning. Post provisioning in terms of getting suitable candidates who specialise in home languages was a key area of interest during discussions. The shift between Grades 7 and 8 was also identified as one of the areas demanding urgent intervention. Therefore, the GET and FET curriculum specialists should work together to find a permanent solution to a declining trend of learner performance in home languages: “Our learners should be adequately supported to complete schooling in record time. We must remember that the longer we keep our children in the schooling system, the poorer they will perform,” remarked Mr Mweli.
The DG’s Education District Support Programme for the week proceeded to the Free State Province on 13 March 2026, targeting education officials in the Lejweleputswa Education District. The Programme will continue to other remaining provinces in the upcoming weeks.