By Johnathan Paoli
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has welcomed national and provincial efforts of facilitating a new phase in the country’s drive to ensure that every South African child receives quality education from the earliest years.
Joined by Northern Cape education MEC Abraham Vosloo, Gwarube visited key education sites in Galeshewe and Platfontein, concluding with a large-scale Early Childhood Development (ECD) registration drive aimed at improving access to quality early learning.
“When our children thrive, families are strengthened, communities prosper and the nation as a whole becomes stronger. I want you to go back to your communities and encourage every ECD centre to register with the department,” the minister said.
Gwarube undertook a comprehensive community outreach visit to the Northern Cape as part of her national campaign to strengthen foundational learning and advance her department’s five strategic sector priorities.
The visit began at Thabane High School in Galeshewe, a Quintile 2 institution that has transformed itself into one of the top-performing schools in the province.
The school recorded a 94.59% matric pass rate in 2024 and now aims to achieve a 100% pass rate for the Class of 2025.
School principal Mthetho Mapula presented a report on the school’s turnaround strategy, highlighting targeted tutoring, community support and nutritional interventions as key contributors to the school’s success.
Addressing the matric class during assembly, Vosloo encouraged learners to maintain their focus and take pride in the high expectations placed on them.
“We believe in you and we are rooting for you to make history,” he said.
Gwarube followed with a motivational message, telling learners that achieving required preparation.
“A dream without a plan is just a fantasy. With hard work, that dream becomes your reality,” she said.
Gwarube toured the school’s kitchen under the National School Nutrition Programme and inspected digital learning infrastructure in its ICT centre.
The minister then travelled to the !Xankwesa ECD Centre in Platfontein, which was recently completed to serve over 400 children from the San communities of !Xun and Khwe.
Built through a partnership between the provincial education department and corporate donor Palms for Life, the centre replaced two facilities that were previously vandalized.
It now offers early education in the children’s mother tongue.
“This is an example of what can happen when communities and government unite. Language is key to comprehension, and mother-tongue education is crucial to building strong literacy foundations,” Gwarube said.
The minister emphasised that investment in ECD infrastructure was one of the pillars of her five strategic priorities, particularly in historically marginalised communities.
Vosloo echoed her sentiments, noting that “initiatives like !Xankwesa change the trajectory of entire communities”.
The delegation then proceeded to Kimberley Academy for a stakeholder engagement session with the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign Provincial Steering Committee.
In her address, Gwarube outlined the department’s five priorities including ECD; literacy and numeracy; inclusion and special needs; teacher development and school leadership; and safe and dignified learning environments.
“Eight out of 10 Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning in any language. We must treat this as a national emergency,” the minister reiterated.
She called for intensified mother-tongue based bilingual education, more inclusive classrooms and stronger district support systems to drive learner achievement.
The visit concluded with the launch of the Bana Pele ECD Registration Clinic, a mass campaign aimed at accelerating the registration of ECD centres nationwide.
Addressing hundreds of ECD practitioners, the minister encouraged informal childcare providers, including day mothers and creche operators, to formalise their programmes.
The Bana Pele initiative, launched earlier this year, is designed to fulfil South Africa’s goal of ensuring universal access to quality early learning for children aged 3 to 5 by 2030.
The roadmap includes efforts to increase the ECD subsidy from R17 to R24 per child per day, establish a national ECD Outcomes Fund and implement digital tracking systems such as the eCARES platform to simplify registration and data management.
Gwarube reiterated that ECD was both an educational and economic lever.
“The ECD sector already employs over 200,000 people, mostly women. If we reach our 2030 targets, we could double that. That’s real economic empowerment,” Gwarube said.
The minister hailed the event as a powerful demonstration of the government’s renewed commitment to early learning and grassroots transformation.
INSIDE EDUCATION
