The DBE’s Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, has called on education districts to keep track of school performance in home languages to ensure that home language teachers were adequately capacitated to achieve a 100% pass rate in these subjects, particularly at the General Education and Training (GET) level.
DG Mweli visited four education districts in the KwaZulu-Natal Province last week to gauge the impact of the districts’ intervention support to schools, whilst monitoring progress registered by the province in integrating Grade R attendance into primary education. The KZN MEC for Education, Mr Sipho Hlomuka, has recently appointed 500 Grade R teachers, with the bold step considered a cornerstone towards strengthening foundational learning.
During the programme, education district directors presented data depicting the overall performance of their respective schools from Foundation to Intermediate, Senior Phase and the Further Education and Training (FET) band. As much as the education districts are progressing well in improving quality learning outcomes in the content subjects, home languages are performing below the 94% threshold in some districts. According to the DBE, all schools are expected to achieve a 100% pass rate in home languages since home language is a mandatory promotion requirement for both GET and FET.
Ms Sindi Zakuza-Njakazi, the Chief Director for Curriculum Management in KZN, highlighted: "Noting the challenges in Home Languages in the Foundation Phase, the province has strengthened the teaching of IsiZulu Home Language through the Early Grade Reading Instruction (EGRI) in IsiZulu and the Reading Instruction Orientation Programme (RIOP) in the Foundation Phase. These programmes focus on the content of five components of language and the pedagogical aspects thereof. The province has further implemented Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) in Grade 4 in all 3,493 schools in 2025 that are offering IsiZulu as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) in Mathematics, Natural Science and Technology. The MTbBE has been expanded to 3,582 schools in Grade 5 in 2026. The learner attainment has shown improvement in these two subjects compared to the cohort of learners that were using English LOLT in Grade 4 as learners use the Language they understand. Reading with understanding has improved significantly".
Mr Mweli said that the DBE will work closely with provinces to mitigate challenges faced by home language teachers in schools, adding that General Education and Training (GET) and FET home language specialists should initiate strategies that can support schools in improving learner performance in home languages. “As part of the programme, we have already visited various education districts across provinces including the North West, Gauteng and Western Cape Provinces. The decline in home languages raises a concern; we should be cognisant of the fact that knowledge and skills are encoded in home languages. Therefore, home languages are cognitive demands for learner development, especially in the Foundation Phase. The issue of home language can be mitigated through the involvement of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), whilst accelerating the recruitment of qualified home language teachers in districts where there are vacant posts”.
The DG's Education District Support Programme culminated into interactive sessions with the Class of 2026 in 40 schools selected from the Umkhanyakude, Amajuba, Zululand and Umzinyathi Education Districts. The programme is expected to continue in the province until 13 April 2026.