The DBE led by Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule and Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, briefed the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on the 2026 State-of-School Readiness on 3 February 2026. In this first Committee briefing for the year, Minister Gwarube said: “We are looking forward to our continued cooperation in our various roles of accounting and oversight to ensure enhanced education outcomes”. Using the National School Readiness Dashboard, the Department presented statistics on seven key issues: Early Childhood Development (ECD); provisioning of Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM); learner transport; school infrastructure; learner admissions and placements; post provisioning; and the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
Minister Gwarube said that “since the final quarter of 2025, we have been closely monitoring the state of readiness, including ongoing engagements with MECs and direct oversight on emerging risks. Data on school readiness is submitted by the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) and signed off by HoDs to ensure credibility. School readiness is more than a compliance issue; and is also about whether the conditions of learning and teaching have been met. It is not static but a response to local challenges evolving daily. The recent announcements of the National Senior Certificate results and the Basic Education Sector Lekgotla have been critical in sharpening our focus on Foundational Learning, system stability and operational readiness of the sector at the start of the year”. The Minister echoed the sentiments expressed by the Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Joy Maimela, about the tragic learner transport incident in the Gauteng Province during January, sending shock waves through the education sector: “This tragedy has underscored the importance of the oversight work before us”.
Ms Simoné Geyer, DDG for Delivery and Support, presented the progress report on behalf of the Department. There is a high demand for learner placement in Grades R, 1 and 8 nationally and as of 28 January 2026, 98.23% Grade R learners; 99.74% Grade 1 learners and 99.55% Grade 8 learners were placed. For the same period, 738,997 applications across the provinces in Grade R were received and of these, 98.23% have been placed nationally in public schools and above 90% in all provinces. All provinces, except KZN, have ordered all the textbooks required to top-up those that were procured in previous years. Delivery of Grades R to 9 DBE workbooks volume 1 have been completed in all provinces. Delivery of volume 2 for Grades 1 to 9 DBE workbooks is in progress. Post-provisioning norms are issued in September of the previous year, and PEDs issue circulars for vacant posts. Approximately 9.5m learners continue to receive a daily meal owing to the NSNP. Mr Mweli added that perennial natural disaster management is a new global challenge and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) offers relief funds, but distribution of funds is slow, and Government is considering the insuring of properties.
Key ECD objectives for 2026 are, amongst others, to register Early Learning Programmes (ELPs) at Silver / Gold level, targeting 8,000 Early Learning Programmes (ELPs) by the end of the year. The Department further intends to drive a local government campaign, in partnership with the COGTA and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). The 2025 Children’s Amendment Bill will also be finalised for introduction to Parliament.
In congratulating the DBE on the 88% pass rate obtained by the Class of 2025, Ms Maimela welcomed the improvement results from township and rural schools, but calling for improvement in participation and performance of STEM subjects. Admissions remained challenging in the Western and the Gauteng Provinces and a follow up meeting with these provinces has been scheduled for the end of February 2026. She welcomed the call by the President for various departments to meet and scrutinise the learner transport system recommendations from the appointed Inter Ministerial Task Team once finalised. In addition, she called for a joint Portfolio Committee meeting with the Department of Higher Education and Training on how to ensure the smooth transition from basic to higher education. In respect of infrastructure, the suggestion was for condition ratings of schools to be verified. The Portfolio Committee conducted an oversight visit to the Limpopo Province last week and infrastructure challenges and observations will be discussed in a follow-up meeting to discuss these issues in more detail. The Select Committee on Education, Sciences, and Creative Industries, were conducting oversight in the Limpopo Province this week.