Basic Education Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, has expressed his satisfaction with the education districts' sense of urgency in putting foundational learning at the centre of their intervention support to schools. DG Mweli has continued with his Education District and Learner Support Programme in the Limpopo Province where he engaged key education district officials in ten education districts over the past few days. Through his Programme, DG Mweli has called for intensified district intervention directed towards improving learner performance in Home Languages and Mathematics from the Foundation Phase up to the Senior Phase.

During his visit to the Limpopo Province, DG Mweli facilitated the Programme in two segments. During the first segment, he successfully engaged education officials in Vhembe East on 22 June 2026; Vhembe West on 23 June 2026; Mopani East on 24 June 2026; Mopani West on 25 June 2026; and Sekhukhune South on 26 June 2026. During the second segment, DG Mweli reached out to key education officials and the Class of 2026 in Sekhukhune East on 29 June 2026; Capricorn North on 30 July 2026; Capricorn South on 1 July 2026; Mogalakwena on 02 July 2026; and Waterberg on 03 July 2026.

The DG’s programme continues to be well endorsed at district level and has succeeded in sustaining accountability in terms of the effective implementation of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) from GET to FET bands. During the engagement sessions, various education district officials applauded the DBE for its commitment to strengthening foundational learning. The education district assured DG Mweli that learner throughput rate will be increased significantly if the Basic Education Sector continued to invest necessary resources in the Foundation Phase, especially the recruitment of qualified Home Language and Mathematics teachers in the Phase. In his response, DG Mweli told District Management Teams (DMTs) to prioritise the filling of key vacant posts to ensure effective curriculum coverage from GET to FET bands. He further advised subjects specialists across all phases to work hand in hand to address learning challenges detected in all subjects. “Curriculum Specialists in the Foundation Phase, Intermediate and Senior Phases should have seamless working relationships to share a common goal in terms of improving learning outcomes,” he said.

In her address, Director in the Office of the Director-General, Ms Mataole Ramohapi, indicated that the Programme has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. “In its early years of implementation, the Programme only reached out to a small population of key education stakeholders. So far, Mr Mweli has visited 63 out of 75 Education Districts through the Programme. In the Limpopo Province alone, the Programme reached out to 20,000 matriculants and 1,500 education district officials. Interestingly, the discussions in this year’s engagement sessions were deliberately concentrated on learner performance in the GET band, with keen interest on how Home Languages are performing and existing districts’ strategies aimed at sustaining quality learning outcomes across all Phases,” explained Ms Ramohapi.

Ms Asiya Hendricks, Deputy Director for the National Mathematics Improvement Programme at the DBE, shared her perspective on approaches to be adopted in increasing Mathematics participation and success rates in the GET band. She alluded to the fact that intervention strategies aimed at increasing participation in Mathematics should start in Grade R to build learner confidence in the subject. “Classroom practice is key in the participation and performance of Mathematics, hence the transformation of classroom practice for experiential learning uptake. Our teaching approach to Mathematics learning should create opportunities for experiential learning through doing, seeing, and writing of Mathematics (Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract (CPA) approach). We also need to consider shifting teachers from procedural to conceptual Mathematics. The 2018 DBE Teaching and Learning Mathematics Framework states that teaching Mathematics for Understanding challenged deeply entrenched beliefs that Mathematics is primarily about following rules and algorithms. This principle now underpins the Mathematics Improvement Programme, where teachers are encouraged to prioritise conceptual understanding before procedural fluency, ensuring learners understand the "why" behind Mathematics. We therefore need to reposition teacher identity as a Mathematics sense maker. The Framework also indicates that teaching Mathematics for Understanding should promote the idea that teachers are not merely transmitters of knowledge but facilitators of Mathematical meaning-making. This philosophy has become embedded within the Mathematics Intermediate Phase training and classroom practice expectations”.

DG Mweli’s Education District and Learner Programme is expected to reach out to 12 education districts in the Eastern Cape Province in the upcoming two weeks.