The Honourable Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Dr Reginah Mhaule, led the South African delegation to the SADC Joint Meeting of Ministers of Education and Training and Science, Technology, and Innovation (ET-STI) which took place from 17 to 20 June 2025 in Harare, Zimbabwe. The South African delegation comprised of officials from the Departments of Basic Education, Higher Education and Training and Science and Innovation. From the DBE, the Deputy Minister was supported by Mr Mathanzima Mweli, Director General of Basic Education, Ms Mataole Ramohapi, Director for Intergovernmental and Technical Support, Mr Muzi Ndlovu, Director for Health Promotion, Dr Mark Chetty, Director for National Assessments, Ms Ncedile Mdhluli, Head of Office in the Office of the Deputy Minister, Ms Matome Sekgota, Assistant Director for International Relations and Multilateral Affairs and Ms Zubeida Sattar, Personal Assistant to the Deputy Minister. Her Excellency Ms J Mabudafhasi, Ambassador of South Africa to Zimbabwe also participated at the Ministerial Roundtable, subsequent to the Deputy Minister’s courtesy visit to the Embassy on 18 June.
The focus of the 2025 Joint Meeting of Ministers of Education and Training and Science, Technology, and Innovation was to review progress on the implementation of the ET-STI programmes within the context of the SADC Regional Indicative Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030; SADC Industrialisation Strategy (2015-2063); Protocols on Education and Science, Technology and Innovation respectively and other relevant continental and international policy frameworks.
The Ministerial Meeting was preceded by a Senior Officials meeting on 17 – 19 June 2025 where several issues, reports and instruments were discussed in preparation for the Ministerial meeting. Some of the cross-cutting issues discussed included the SADC University of Transformation; Entrepreneurship Initiatives; Draft SADC Higher Education Strategic Framework; and Draft Report on Impactful Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in the Southern Africa Development Community.
Parallel sessions discussed the Report on the assessment implementation of the Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI); Draft Revised SADC Credit Accumulation And Transfers Systems (CATS) Guidelines; Draft Revised SADC Recognition Of Prior Learning (RPL) Guidelines); Draft Report On Data Gaps of SDG4 Targets of SADC Member States And Country Case Studies Of The Education Management Information System (EMIS); and Progress Report On The Care And Support For Teaching And Learning (CSTL) Framework and Futurelife-now! Programme to mention a few.
The subsequent Joint Meeting of Ministers of Education and Training and Science, Technology, and Innovation on 20 June, concluded with Ministers adopting the record of the 2025 SADC Joint Meeting of Ministers of Education and Training and Science, Technology and Innovation (ET-STI).
The 15th Session of the Assembly was held as a side event to the Joint Ministerial meeting at the Harare International Conference Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe, on 19 June 2025. Ministers and senior officials from 11 Ministries of Education attended the meeting. During the meeting, Ministers highlighted the need to improve Reading Literacy skills across participating countries.
The Deputy Minister pointed out that performance levels require SEACMEQ countries to do something different so that there are tangible improvements in Reading and Mathematics in the next cycle and that it was worry some that participation of member states had been reduced from SEACMEQ IV to SEACMEQ V. A key finding of the study was low levels of access by teachers to technology or digital resources in their teaching and learning. Dr Benjamin Piper from the Gates Foundation pointed out that countries needed to invest more in foundational learning to improve learning outcomes and that there are many best practices on the continent (e.g. Zambia and South Africa) that can be used to support this area. New funding models by donors are being discussed to support countries.
In her report to the Assembly, the executive director of the SEACMEQ Coordinating Centre (SCC), Ms Toziba Masilela, highlighted that key issues affecting SEACMEQ included greater political will, consistent financial contribution, resource mobilisation, and programme efficiency. The meeting concluded with Ministers underlining their commitment to the sustainability of SEACMEQ and to improving efficiency in planning and with greater utility of SEACMEQ’s rich source of data. A SEACMEQ 30-year Anniversary event will be held in 2025 to highlight its achievements.
The SADC Secretariat has recently released a report on Impactful Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The report highlights significant progress towards access to primary school education including examples of impactful foundational literacy and numeracy within the region from South Africa, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia and Zambia.
The Deputy Minister also participated in a Ministerial Roundtable Dialogue on Impactful Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The Deputy Minister together with Ministers from Botswana, Malawi and Namibia shared some impactful innovations implemented within their countries to address the foundational literacy and numeracy challenges.
“In South Africa, access to basic education is nearly universal, especially amongst children aged 7 to 15. However, there are significant drop-out challenges at upper secondary level, and only just over 60% of young people complete school or an equivalent college qualification,” said the Deputy Minister in her opening remarks. She further shared with the panel the DBE Workbook Programme which has immensely contributed to the country's improvement in international assessments. In addition, Dr Mhaule shared the Thrive by Five Index, which measures the percentage of five-year-olds who are thriving in terms of their early development.