Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, accompanied by Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, and a DBE team of senior managers, briefed the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on 3 March 2026. The briefing centred around the impact and implications of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proclamations in the State of the Nation Address (SoNA), as well as infrastructure backlogs on the education sector. Implementing agent representatives also attended the briefing, which was requested due to infrastructural challenges flagged during oversight visits, as well as overcrowding in rural schools, impacting on 2026 admissions.
Minister Gwarube said that “the five priorities set for the Basic Education Sector aligns fully to the presidential pronouncements for DBE priorities and deliverables during the reimagining of the sector with our focus on foundational learning; these commit the DBE, in public, to key activities and programmes for enhanced outcomes. The DBE remains committed to previous and new SoNA pronouncements to improve the quality of the system in respect of Early Childhood Development (ECD); quality of reading, foundational literacy and numeracy; extending Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE); school infrastructure; and the implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act.
Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Ms Joy Maimela, expressed her disappointment that the Department of Public Works and National Treasury did not attend the briefing, as their involvement is critical to find solutions to the persistent infrastructural challenges experienced. “A coordinated approach to infrastructure challenges is critical,” she said.
Against the backdrop of the SoNA, Dr Stephen Taylor, Director for Research Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation, analysed the progress made over the course of thirty years, across the justice principles of access, redress, equity, quality, efficiency, and inclusivity: “There is now near-universal access to schooling with noticeable gains in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results; the number of NSC candidates obtaining bachelor passes; and Grade R rollout. The Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive has been launched and rolled out across all provinces, with 15,104 completed applications, and 12,361 approved at Bronze level with the remainder in the review process, and with the silver activation process currently building on the solid foundation established during the Bronze phase. Although dropout remains a concern, completion rates have been steadily improving over the years. The DBE is implementing the Early Grade Reading Programme (EGRS), which consists of an integrated package of lesson plans, additional reading materials and professional support to Foundation Phase teachers”.
He added that, in respect of Inclusive Education, the Ministerial Task Team has completed an extensive review on Education White Paper 6. To ensure a skills set for a changing world, along with post-school employability, the DBE is making progress with the introduction of the Three Stream Model, heralding a fundamental curriculum shift in focus towards more vocational and technical education. Various technical vocational specialisations have already been introduced in 550 schools, and 67 schools are piloting the occupational stream. In line with the Department’s Framework for Skills for a Changing World, the DBE is expanding the training of both educators and learners to respond to emerging technologies including the internet of things, Coding and Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. The versioning of Foundation Phase CAPS Documents has started and is an ongoing process until the CAPS documents are available in all official languages, catering for MTbBE.
Along with the Action Plan to 2024: Towards the realisation of Schooling 2030, the DBE assured the Committee that it remains committed to quality, inclusive education, with the focus firmly on early learning to lay strong foundations for future education and participation in gateway subjects towards STEAM mastery.