Members of the Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM), led by Mr Mathanzima Mweli, Director-General for the DBE, are pushing for accelerated education reforms, with a clear focus on foundational learning; curriculum diversification; professional teacher development and recruitment in the Foundation and Intermediate Phases; and most importantly, sector resourcing, improved accountability and audit outcomes. This was evident during the HEDCOM workshop organised by the DBE’s Coordination and Secretariat Support at Pont De Val (Core De Val Estate) in the Free State Province on 20 April 2026.

The workshop culminated in the HEDCOM closed session in which various education programmes and curriculum policies were tabled for urgent directives before being implemented in the Basic Education Sector. The HEDCOM, comprising of DBE’s Director-General and Heads of the Departments of Education across all nine provinces, meet bimonthly to reflect on the gains attained in the South African schooling context, whilst charting a way forward in terms of sustaining the effective administration of the Sector.

Items that topped the agenda during the workshop included the implications of the recent amendments to the two pieces of the public administration legislations, namely, the Public Management Amendment Act, 2025 and the Public Service Amendment Act, 2025; Provincial Equitable Share (PES) Formular review; Mathematics Participation and Success Rate from Grade 10 up to Grade 12; Revised National Policy Framework for Teacher Education  and Development (NPFTED); Scaling up school participation in national and international assessment to strengthen literacy and numeracy; Maximisation of Grade R attendance across all primary schools in South Africa; and the acceleration of the registration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres as part of the ECD institutionalisation.

In his presentation, Mr Enoch Rabotapi, Acting Deputy Director-General for Teachers, Education Human Resource and Institutional Development, indicated that the DBE and the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) were hard at work to strengthen professional teacher development and recruitment: “This kind of intervention will assist the Basic Education Sector in addressing learning gaps across grades, especially in Mathematics and Home Languages”. Deputy Director-General for Delivery and Support, Ms Simoné Geyer, informed the HEDCOM that the sector has registered progress in terms of the institutionalisation of the ECD programmes: “During the 2026 school calendar, we aim to register a minimum of 8,000 centres that will ultimately qualify for Government subsidy. I would like to thank the HoDs and education districts for their assistance in ensuring that the Bana Pele Registration Drive reaches its desired success.”

The HEDCOM noted the Sector’s commitment towards curriculum diversification, adding that the undertaking will broaden career pathways for learners, especially those with less interest in the academic stream. The HEDCOM agreed that schools of skills should be increased to promote occupational and vocational education in schools. However, the HEDCOM admitted that the schools of skills were costly, adding that Government will have to set aside financial resources to get these schools of skills at the required standard of functionality.  The HEDCOM also learnt that the participation rate in Mathematics continues to face a decline and urged the sector to capacitate Foundation Phase teachers to improve mathematics teaching. Other important matters were reserved for discussion in the upcoming HEDCOM workshop.