4 changes coming for schools in South Africa

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is planning several changes for schools in South Africa as it plans to better prepare students for the working world.
In its 2022/2023 annual performance plan published this week, the department said it will continue to motivate learners to stay in school until they obtain a matric pass and the necessary qualifications to compete in the labour market.
“Learners should be equipped with entrepreneurial skills that encourage job creation responding to education skills transfer for the future.”
“The emphasis will be on improving learners’ skills in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Financial and Scientific Literacy, along with critical thinking in problem-solving; creativity; communication; and collaboration.”
The department said it will also be focussing on a curriculum response to skills, with plans to better prepare teachers for curriculum digitisation; teaching and learning methodology change, and the integration of ICT skills.
General Education Certificate
The department plans to introduce a Grade 9 General Education Certificate (GEC) which will allow students to have some form of qualification before matric.
“The primary purpose of the certificate will be to facilitate subject choices beyond Grade 9 and articulation between schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges as a low-stakes feature of the school accountability system,” the department said.
In January, the department said it will pilot the new certificate at hundreds of South African schools in 2022, with plans to roll out the certificate to all schools in the country by the 2024 school year.
Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga said broad consultations around the certificate have already taken place with stakeholders, partners, and experts on the most appropriate model for the GEC, and public comments have been considered in introducing the policy.
Subjects
The department plans to fully implement coding and robotics as new schools subject for Grade R-3 and 7 students in the 2023 academic year.
A pilot curriculum for these subjects was initially introduced at some schools in the third term of the 2021 academic year, it said. It plans to expand these tech-focused subjects to other grades in subsequent years.
The coding and robotics pilot for Grades 4-6 and for Grades 8 is planned for 2022 and will be followed by a Grade 9 pilot in 2023. The full-scale implementation for Grades 4-6 and Grade 8 is planned for 2024, and Grade 9 in 2025, the department said.
Early Childhood Development
The department is expected to take over Early Childhood Development functions from 1 April of 2022/23, with the government planning to focus heavily on foundational learning in the coming years.
One of the key proposals will see Grade R learning become mandatory at schools in South Africa with the government hoping to improve outcomes around reading and mathematics as children enter the education system earlier.
Language
The department plans to move forward with plans to incorporate mother-tongue languages at the country’s schools.
Answering in a recent parliamentary Q&A on Wednesday (9 March), Motshekga said that one of the biggest reasons why South African children have such poor reading comprehension skills is that they are essentially learning in a ‘foreign language’ by being taught in English.
This was reiterated by the department in its annual report which noted that the country’s legacy of colonialism persists through the dominance of ‘colonial languages’.
“In South Africa, English, though only spoken by about 4% of public-school learners as a home language, is the predominant language of the textbooks used in classrooms, as well as in the system’s policy documents,” it said.
“There is compelling research indicating that young children learn best if, during the first few years of their schooling, key concepts, especially literacy and reading skills, are taught in their home language. But beyond these pedagogical considerations, promoting all languages in the education system is a matter of national pride and of liberation.
Read: Here are the updated vaccination rules planned for workers in South Africa