Programme Director,
Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube,
Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Dr Reginah Mhaule,
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Hon Joy Maimela,
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education, Sciences and Creative Industries, Hon Makhi Feni,
Director General of Basic Education, Mr Mathanzima Mweli,
MECs,
Members of national and provincial legislatures,
Representatives of political parties,
Representatives of teacher unions,
Representatives of SGB Associations, higher education institutions, education organisations and civil society,
Representatives of business,
Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning.
It is wonderful to be here with the women and men whose work is shaping our nation’s future.
Education is the bedrock upon which societies are built and on which they thrive.
Education enables development. It is a catalyst of progress for individuals, communities, countries and economies.
Basic education in particular is the most crucial determinant of whether an education system succeeds, falls short or fails.
We therefore regard the annual Basic Education Lekgotla as one of the most important events on the national calendar.
To put this into perspective, in its recent South Africa Economic Update, the World Bank singled out basic education as one of three sectors with the greatest potential to drive inclusive growth and transform South Africa into a high-income country.
What is greatly encouraging is that the reforms proposed by the World Bank, such as prioritising foundational years, are very much aligned to the Department’s vision.
Early Childhood Development, numeracy and early grade reading are just some of the focus areas highlighted in the World Bank report.
Last year, in 2024, we achieved the highest matriculation pass rate in our country’s history.
The achievements of the Class of 2024 reinforce our commitment to developing our nation’s most valuable resource, our young people.
This achievement shows that we are steadily undoing apartheid’s legacy of intergenerational poverty, disadvantage and indignity.
Our learners, teachers, parents and caregivers deserve our appreciation, alongside school governing bodies and partners in business, trade unions and academia.
However, these impressive outcomes stand in stark contrast to what we see in the early years of education.
We are all aware of the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study that showed that more than 80 percent of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning in any language, including their home language.
South Africa also ranked low in a recently published study on Trends in International Mathematics and Science, which surveys capabilities in Grades 4 and 8.
Not having mastered basic skills in reading and maths at foundation level sets the tone for how a learner will perform in high school and beyond.
So correcting these shortcomings is the most urgent of tasks.
It must be front and centre of our efforts in basic education.
This is the first Basic Education Sector Lekgotla convened under a Government of National Unity.
It is taking place at the confluence of a number of developments key to our nation’s progress.
The first of these is that we are now in the implementation phase of the Medium Term Development Plan, government’s strategic framework for the next five years.
The second is that we are now in the five-year countdown towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 4 on “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
The third key development is South Africa’s G20 Presidency, with its theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability.
As the host of the G20 Education Working Group, we have a unique opportunity to drive a progressive agenda for inclusive and equitable education within the framework of the G20.
The theme of this year’s lekgotla – ‘Strengthening Foundations for a Resilient, Future-Fit Education System’ – is therefore most appropriate and timely.
Globalisation, open knowledge flows and advancing technology are rapidly changing the world of work.
The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report shows the world’s fastest growing and fastest declining jobs.
At the top of the pyramid – the jobs that are growing fastest – are big data specialists, User Interface and User Experience engineers, data warehousing specialists and renewable energy engineers.
At the bottom of the pyramid, some of the jobs that are in decline include bank tellers, data entry clerks, cashiers, admin assistants, book-keeping and payroll clerks, and telemarketers, among others.
Many of these occupations that are in decline are entry level positions for young people entering the job market after school.
Artificial intelligence and large language models are cutting a swathe across many types of work.
One of these applications, ChatGPT, has an estimated 300 million weekly active users globally.
The share of students using ChatGPT to assist them with school assignments has doubled between 2023 and 2024 in the United States alone.
The first generation to grow up with the internet, Gen Z, are already in their thirties. Generation Alpha, the first fully digital generation, are now in high school.
The babies born this year are the start of Generation Beta, and will begin school in 2030.
These Generation Beta children will be mastering the use of AI tools for schoolwork, problem solving and life advice before they even reach high school.
This is to say nothing of their future career paths. There are now tools that can build a website in 10 seconds and compile a fully referenced research paper in about a minute.
So when we speak of equipping our young people with the skills for a changing world, we are not only talking about the structure of education needing to be transformed, but its methods of delivery as well.
I am pleased that this is an issue that is prioritised at the Basic Education Lekgotla.
We have to adapt to this new reality or risk the consequences of last century methods that cannot deliver new century outcomes.
As impressive as technological advances have been, technology is but a complement to human endeavour.
There is no substitute for solid foundational education led by committed and capable educators that sets the stage for a more effective and equitable educational system.
At a foundational level, learners develop essential skills in literacy and numeracy, reducing pre-existing learning gaps, and form the building blocks for lifelong learning.
Early childhood development plays a critical role. It is a strong social equaliser, with children from disadvantaged families benefiting most.
We need to improve foundational numeracy and literacy using the Mother-tongue based Bilingual Education approach.
We are encouraged by the Department’s efforts to review and realign our existing curriculum, including assessment, learning and teaching support material and teacher development programmes.
Equality and access must guide everything we do.
We have a special obligation to promote access to quality education for learners that are blind, deaf or who have other disabilities.
This is both a human rights issue and economic and social imperative. For our country to develop, we need to ensure that every person is able to realise their potential.
We therefore welcome the inclusion of Deaf SA and Blind SA in this lekgotla programme.
Our hard-working educators are the backbone of the sector. We welcome the ongoing provision of teacher support and development programmes focused on skills, pedagogy and methodology, among others.
The alignment of the national curriculum and the schooling system with South Africa’s economic imperatives must be an apex priority for this lekgotla.
Entrepreneurship plays a key role in economic growth, particularly when the labour market is constrained.
As we prepare young people for employment, we must also support pathways for them to self-employment.
Our education system needs to be responsive to the evolving skills needs of the economy.
One of the most important ways of doing this is through structured technical and vocational education pathways in the schooling system that run parallel to the general academic education pathway.
The diversification into academic, technical and vocational pathways provides learners with greater choices based on their interests, abilities and aptitudes.
It enables them to choose the right careers and achieve greater success.
We need to be more assertive in marketing these pathways to learners, including through life orientation and career guidance classes.
As stakeholders in the sector we need to work together to address the prevalent bias towards general academic education, and even the stigma that exists around choosing vocational occupations.
Vocational training should not be seen as a fall-back option for learners who have been identified as unlikely to obtain the marks needed for university entry.
It should be seen as an attractive proposition for all learners.
One looks at a highly industrialised country like Germany, for instance, where 47 percent of the workforce has a vocational qualification compared to 17 percent with higher education degrees.
I look forward to the outcomes of this year’s lekgotla, which is happening at such a critical time in the life of our nation.
The Basic Education Sector Lekgotla brings together political and administrative heads in education, and representatives of teachers, parents and learner organisations.
It brings together local and international academics, experts from the post-school education sectors, and industry leaders specialising in human resources.
In other words, we have in this room the full complement of those who have it within their means to transform the basic education landscape for the better and, most importantly, for the future.
I thank you.
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