Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, addressed delegates participating in the G20 Education Working Group at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg today under the theme: “The Role of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Improving the Quality of Foundational Learning”. Gauteng Education MEC, Mr Matome Chiloane was also in attendance. The gathering is one of nine hosted at provincial level, and follows hot on the heels of the recent KwaZulu-Natal Indaba hosted earlier in June 2025.
In her address, Minister Gwarube said: “Gauteng reflects not only our national strengths and challenges, but also serves as a driver of innovation, inclusion and reform. We gather under the historic banner of South Africa’s G20 Presidency, the first on the African continent. But this is not a ceremonial milestone. It is a strategic opportunity to shift the global education agenda toward the most urgent and universal goal: Quality Foundational Learning. In our context, this encompasses Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), as well as literacy and numeracy in Grades R to 3 to the Foundation Phase”.
Minister Gwarube added that ECCE is not merely preparatory, it is foundational. It lays the cognitive, social and emotional scaffolding upon which all later learning is built. A child’s readiness for Grade R or Grade 1 is deeply influenced by the quality of care and stimulation they receive in the first four years of life. “For this reason, we are formalising early childhood development centres, aligning them with the National Curriculum Framework, raising subsidies from R17 to R24 per child per day, and investing in practitioner training, especially in informal or underserved communities. Inclusion in education is not the task of specialists alone, it is the responsibility of every teacher, leader, parent, and community.”
Minister Gwarube added that, “in the Foundation Phase, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of the Post Provisioning Norms to allocate more teachers to the early grades. We are reorienting the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme to prioritise Foundation Phase educators and updating the National Catalogue of Learning and Teaching Support Materials to ensure a linguistically inclusive, pedagogically sound curriculum. We are also calling on all provinces and schools to protect teaching time as a non-negotiable resource. Under our G20 Presidency, South Africa has proposed two Learning Exchanges: one on ECCE systems reform, and another on early grade literacy and numeracy. These platforms will enable countries to collaborate, share insights, and advance progress together. We invite all G20 nations to join us in shaping a new global agenda, not based on slogans, but on building sustainable systems that work.
Minister Gwarube urged delegates to following the principles of the alignment of national and provincial efforts to reinforce each other with urgency, innovation and accountability to measure what matters, whilst reflecting on the five critical levers, the Five Ts that shape quality teaching and learning in every classroom, every day: Time on Task; Teacher Preparedness and Knowledge; Textbooks; Technology; and Testing.
“South Africa’s G20 Presidency is more than a symbolic milestone, it is a call to reimagine global cooperation from the perspective of the Global South. For the first time, an African country is leading the G20. And we are determined to use this moment not only for representation but for meaningful transformation. We have placed Quality Foundational Learning at the heart of our Presidency’s education agenda. This signals a shift in global priorities: if we are to confront the world’s complex social, economic, and technological challenges, we must begin at the beginning with ECCE, with early grade literacy and numeracy, with investment in the first decade of a child’s life”.