The journey of the 2026 Learner Support and Monitoring Programme commenced on 26 January 2026 with Johannesburg West, the Number 1 district nationally, and in the Gauteng Province. The programme concluded with Joe Gqabi, the Number 1 district in the Eastern Cape Province, and 34 nationally. The DBE's Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, has vowed to consistently work with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) and all 75 education districts to drive the improvement of learning outcomes across all grades towards the provision of quality education.

Although DG Mweli has acknowledged gains observed in the Basic Education Sector since the dawn of democracy to date, curriculum diversification; entrepreneurial education; vocational and occupational education; and foundational learning are increasingly influencing education policy development and implementation in the South African context. As a result, circuit managers, through the support of education districts, should always focus on foundational learning at the General Education and Training (GET) level, whilst ensuring that schools are capacitated to equip learners with critical skills to contribute towards economic development in the country. DG Mweli shared this perspective during his engagement sessions with key education district officials at OR Tambo Coastal, Chris Hani East and Joe Gqabi Education Districts in the Eastern Cape Province and addressed learners of Mandlethu and Extension K Schools in the Mpumalanga Province this week.

During deliberations in various engagement sessions, DG Mweli and education officials across all 75 education districts, were convinced that the support to primary schools in strengthening foundational learning could achieve its desired outcomes if Foundation Phase teachers specialising in Home Languages and Mathematics were urgently supported and prepared to deal with the current challenges which reflected in the performance of learners.

Alongside DG Mweli, Ms Mataole Ramohapi who organised the district engagements, emphasised that to succeed in grooming young minds for active global citizenry, curriculum diversification and entrepreneurial education, districts need to encourage schools to constantly review their curriculum offerings to be in line with skills and competencies for a changing world. She further encouraged education districts to intensify their efforts towards mass registration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) to ensure that no child is left behind and for the integration of Grade R into primary schools to realise the objectives of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act in making it compulsory.

“We are delighted as a team that we managed to visit all 75 districts, and this has empowered and enlightened us about the progress that the Sector continues to make and challenges that we are grappling with. The commitment that colleagues made from provincial, district and school level to address all the identified challenges, is indeed heartwarming. Critical issues that were raised during these sessions were the filling of vacancies at all levels of the system; strengthening of the curriculum; capacity building of teachers; plugging on policy gaps; provision of resources for curriculum implementation; and physical resources such as infrastructure. I will be tabling the report with the Heads of Education on these district visits which should include, amongst others, dealing with resource provisioning for basic district and school functionality. A total of 1,264 schools and 158,304 learners benefited from these visits. Let me take this opportunity to thank the Heads of Education, provincial and district officials for having made it possible for me and the entire team to visit all 75 education districts across the country. Let's continue to work together to take our Sector to the next level of performance. The rainy weather, the mist, the snow, bad and dangerous roads compounded the difficulties that we had to deal with in rounding off the programme for this week in the Eastern Cape. The determination of the team to get the work done ultimately got us to the end of the programme. I am eternally grateful to each member of the team for their contribution,” concluded DG Mweli.