The Department of Basic Education (DBE) and various education partners are on a good course to transform the South African education landscape for the better. Earlier this week, Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, hosted a series of engagement sessions with education stakeholders to discuss possible new areas of collaboration to complement the priorities of the 7th administration.
The Minister’s engagement sessions commenced with the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) in Pretoria on 11 August 2025. The engagement was aimed at assessing the state of educational assessment and examination in public and private schools to ensure synergy in terms of quality assessment in various learning areas. The delegation also used the engagement as an opportunity to express their gratitude to the DBE for its leadership and guidance in ensuring that both public and private schools deliver education of the highest quality for the South African children.
Minister Gwarube also met with the FLOAT Collaboration, which offered to expand its contribution to education, with emphasis on the improvement of literacy and numeracy in the General Education and Training (GET) band. FLOAT is an initiative of eight donors who have raised R296 Million to invest in improving the foundations of learning.
The last engagement session was between Minister Gwarube and United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator, Mr Nelson Muffuh, joined by representatives from the UN agencies including the World Bank; UNICEF; World Food Programme (WFP); United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO); United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER); and World Health Organisation (WHO). The UN delegation has informed the Minister that partnership in education is one way to invest in the future of children. During the deliberations, it was confirmed that the partnership between the DBE and UN will be reviewed in such a way that it will be scaled up to cover an array of focus areas including foundational learning; school feeding scheme; physical education; reproductive health; inclusive education as well vocational and occupational education.
In her reflections, Minister Grwarube welcomed the commitment shown by the private sector in addressing literacy and numeracy challenges. She further indicated that if children could not read, and read for meaning at an early age they will, undoubtedly, find it difficult to excel in high-level subjects. “We need to instil a culture of reading in the Foundation Phase to keep the entire education system on a rising trajectory,” added Minister Gwarube. She also acknowledged the education partners for showing interest in supporting post-school education. “We really need your support to ensure that the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and vocational and occupational education are given equal attention,” remarked Minister Gwarube.