The DBE is anticipating the official launch of the 2023 Spotlight series, which will be integrated into the Basic Education Sector Lekgotla, scheduled for next week, 14 – 16 March 2024. Mr Seliki Tlhabane, Chief Director for MST and Curriculum Enhancement Programmes, joined by various senior education officials, met with the UNESCO delegation to prepare for the launch.

The Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report is an editorially independent report hosted and published by UNESCO with the mandate to monitor progress on the implementation of national and international strategies to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which is about quality education to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

As part of the GEM Report’s objectives aimed at building partnerships and increasing impact at the regional and national level, a regional report series was introduced in 2019 to examine the theme of the global report in more depth in selected regions. The concept of the regional report was adjusted in the case of Africa. The delegation confirmed that primary education and early grades in particular, was the level of interest, except where it was necessary to also address issues related to pre-primary or lower secondary education. In this regional report series, the GEM Report has partnered with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the African Union (AU). The second Spotlight continental report and its constituent country reports will focus on selected elements of three of these factors to elaborate on how countries align their national vision with their curriculum and workbooks; teacher support; and assessment.

A specific focus on Mathematics will be used to illustrate variations observed across the continent, as well as actionable policies and good practices. The three areas of focus match the intent of the Spotlight series to work with three clusters of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-25 curriculum, teacher development, and planning as part of the Leveraging Education Analysis for Results Network (LEARN). This peer-learning mechanism aims to act as a catalyst for cross-cluster collaboration to address foundational learning issues in Africa.

Mr Tlhabane acknowledged the commitment made by UNESCO in transforming the landscape of education globally. “Through the report, participating countries expect a significant improvement in terms of learning outcomes across various phases of the education system. The report will support countries in their efforts to achieve out-of-school, completion and foundational learning targets or benchmarks through research, dialogue with country governments and advocacy activities. It will also support countries to share positive practices that promote foundational learning with their peers on the continent. Ultimately, the report will advance foundational learning in Africa, through the mobilisation of regional organisations and peer learning mechanisms,” he concluded.