Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, congratulated the History Ministerial Task Team (MTT) on the sterling work done thus far. The Department of Basic Education briefed the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on 1 April 2025. “The draft History curriculum purposefully moves away from parochialism and exceptionalism to develop in learners a global historical consciousness from the vantage point of Africa”.

Through explicit teaching, history learners will develop the thinking tools to evaluate all historical source material critically, including the different stories constructed about the past. The final phase will consider the implementation plan going forward. This was a follow-up briefing to the briefing made on 19 November 2024, on the implementation of History as a compulsory subject for Grades 4 -12,” the Minister said.

The presentation on the History MTT recommendations were made by Prof Nomalanga Mkhize, Historian and Associate at the Nelson Mandela University. The team of DBE senior managers, led by Acting DG, Dr Granville Whittle, and the Committee agreed on the important role of History as an enabler of social cohesion to create a cohort of new South Africans who understand heritage and know their own history to enhance a sense of patriotism for a South Africa that belongs to all. The foundations of the subject, proposed for Grade 4, will include Personal History, My Community, Our Histories and Modes of Communication, with a strong focus on the development of humankind, language and culture. One of the suggestions from the MTT Report was for History to be made compulsory in the Further Education and Training (FET) Band to replace Life Orientation (LO) as the 4th fundamental subject. During the first briefing, Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, indicated that LO is an important subject that cannot be removed from the curriculum.

Ms Cheryl Weston, Acting Chief Director for Curriculum Implementation and Quality Improvement (FET), indicated that the intake of History has been steadily increasing in the FET band with an additional 60,000 learners offering History during the last few years. “We are overhauling the History curriculum and all internal processes should be finalised towards the end of June. Going forward, we will be following the policy processes and gazetting for public comments, which is usually a minimum of 21 days. The final draft will be submitted to Umalusi for appraisal within an 18 months period. Ahead of implementation, holistic and extensive teacher training is required on the content, pedagogy and assessment of the new History curriculum, along with the development of new Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM).

The DBE’s Mr Pule Rakgoathe, Acting Director for FET explained that, “the History MTT was appointed on 4 June 2015 to advise former Minister, Mrs Angie Motshekga, on the possibility of offering History as a compulsory subject in the FET Band due to the decline in the uptake of the subject amongst learners. The seven-member team, led by Professor Sifiso Ndlovu, South African Democracy Education Trust and UNISA, completed their work in December 2017 and the MTT report was presented to the public on 31 May 2018. The MTT was reappointed on 15 October 2018, and continued their work virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MTT contract expired on 31 March 2023 and a request for extension until 31 March 2025 was made. The Team managed to complete a draft History curriculum for Grades 4 –12 and conducted consultations with various stakeholders within education such as History lead teachers, subject advisors, officials from heritage institutions and representatives from higher education institutions in all nine provinces. The draft Curriculum Framework followed a Mixed Studies approach (mixing both chronology and thematic approaches) to include aspects on Historiography, Archaeology, African History, Heritage and Local History, Labour History and Archives”.