The Inter-Provincial Rural Education Committee (IPREC) held its first quarterly meeting of 2025 from 25 to 26 February at the DBE in Pretoria. The meeting focused on key educational initiatives aimed at improving rural and multi-grade schooling. Discussions covered strategic projects, provincial reports and the role of language in education.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Madumetja Kgobe, Deputy Director in the DBE’s Rural Education Directorate, reiterating the importance of IPREC to improve access and quality education in South Africa’s rural schools: “All projects currently implemented in the Directorate are a direct result of deliberations in this forum,” he said.
The meeting received reports on various projects implemented by the Directorate such as the Pre-Service Teacher Internship, in which student teachers are placed in schools as interns and mentored by experienced teachers and mentors; the Reading for Meaning project that seeks to improve the reading skills of learners in the Foundation Phase using mother-tongue; the Blended Learning for Support Programme to improve Mathematics, Science and Languages amongst Grades 8 and 9 learners, and the MiDesk Global initiative, which provides portable and mobile desks to learners in rural schools. All projects are implemented in partnership with non-government actors, which underscores the Directorate’s approach of embracing Public Private Partnerships.
The meeting also received presentations from Ms Florence Modipa, Chief Education Specialist, Curriculum Policy and Development at the DBE, which focused on policy compliance regarding subject compliance. The presentation provided insights to the committee members on how they can best support schools to ensure that learners are not disadvantaged when it comes to certification at the NSC level. Mr Xhanti Mhlubulwana, Chief Director in the National Language Unit at the DBE provided a progress report on the implementation of Mother-Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE), which seeks to address language barriers to Literacy and Numeracy. The committee explored strategies to integrate MTbBE into schools, including monitoring language standards and supporting terminology verification.
Provinces also presented on projects and programmes being implemented to support rural and multigrade teaching in schools. The presentations covered a wide range of areas including the implementation of the learning recovery framework, supporting multigrade teaching with parental involvement and preparations for implementation of MTbBE. Further, progress was also provided on the implementation of the National Framework for Rural Education, as well as the establishment of Provincial Rural Education Committees to support the implementation of the Framework.
Dr Phumzile Langa, Director for Rural Education who joined the meeting on the second day, shared insights into the donations of the mobile desks in the Western Cape by MiDesk Global. After sharing a brief description of the desks, she added that, “these desks will go a long way towards ensuring that learners from poorer socio-economic background will be able to access education as some learners do not have access to these basic tools”. The MiDesk Global initiative will greatly assist in improving the conditions for accessing quality education. The meeting concluded with reflections on future plans and the importance of continued collaboration in ensuring equitable education for all learners, particularly for those in rural and multilingual contexts to ensure that rural and multigrade schools are not left behind in pursuit of quality education,” concluded Mr Kgobe.