Minister Gwarube continued her high-level engagements with key stakeholders and social investment partners to chart a path forward for strengthening South Africa’s education ecosystem. The engagements focused on expanding Early Childhood Development (ECD), refining financial investment in education and embracing agile, innovation-driven partnerships across all learning phases. Four interlinked pillars, ECD, Basic Education, Post-Schooling and the World of Work, were discussed tasking partners to co-design dynamic solutions and new collaborations.
The key contributors were Ilifa Labantwana, the Thrive by Five Index, Data Driven Districts, Innovation Edge, the Conditional Grant Consortium (Increasing funding for ECD) and the National Education Collaboration Trust. The DBE and FirstRand partnership covers ECD, teacher training, primary education, literacy, numeracy and digital literacy and the National Teacher Awards, amongst others. The Minister challenged all partners to remain agile, embrace fresh ideas and cultivate new alliances.
In addition to the engagements, the DBE, through the Bana Pele ECD Registration Drive, celebrated the 25th anniversary of its partnership with Sesame Workshop, the home of Takalani Sesame. “This collaboration is rooted in our shared commitment to helping young children thrive by ensuring they receive quality early learning in safe and nurturing environments,” the Minister said. As part of this partnership, Sesame Workshop hosted a stall at the DBE on 30 July 2025. This was an opportunity for DBE officials to meet the Muppets, enjoy some fun giveaways and to take a few photographs.