{"id":364486,"date":"2020-01-19T18:36:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T16:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=364486"},"modified":"2020-01-19T18:36:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T16:36:02","slug":"from-compulsory-pre-school-to-new-subjects-these-are-the-planned-changes-coming-to-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/364486\/from-compulsory-pre-school-to-new-subjects-these-are-the-planned-changes-coming-to-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"From compulsory pre-school to new subjects &#8211; these are the planned changes coming to schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As parents and students prepare for another busy school calendar, South Africa&#8217;s Department of Education aims to introduce a number of changes at local schools.<\/p>\n<p>These changes are primarily directed at improving the general standard of education in the country and include new subjects, two years of compulsory early childhood development, and a push to decolonise education.<\/p>\n<p>BusinessTech looked at some of the planned changes in more detail below.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>New subjects<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As part of plans to future-proof the economy, president Cyril Ramaphosa has <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/327893\/south-african-schools-will-soon-get-these-new-subjects\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pledged<\/a> <\/strong>to introduce a number of technology-focused subjects\u00a0to the curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>In April 2019, the Department of Basic Education said it had trained 43,774 teachers in computer skills and would shortly begin training teachers for the new coding curricula.<\/p>\n<p>The minister said that the DBE will also be introducing a\u00a0robotics\u00a0curriculum from Grade R-9.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tech focus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In his state of the nation address in\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/298140\/6-new-subjects-you-can-expect-to-be-introduced-at-south-african-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 2019<\/a><\/strong>, Ramaphosa said that over the next six years, government will provide every school child in South Africa with digital workbooks and textbooks on a tablet device.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that the Department of Education would also expand the training of both educators and learners to \u2018respond to emerging technologies\u2019 including the internet of things, robotics and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>Additional new technology subjects and specialisations will be introduced, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Technical mathematics;<\/li>\n<li>Technical sciences;<\/li>\n<li>Maritime sciences;<\/li>\n<li>Aviation studies;<\/li>\n<li>Mining sciences;<\/li>\n<li>Aquaponics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Decolonising education<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has also indicated her department will continue with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/329879\/government-moves-ahead-with-plans-to-decolonise-south-african-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">decolonisation<\/a> <\/strong>of education through the teaching and promotion of African languages, South African and African history and national symbols to all learners up to Grade 12.<\/p>\n<p>She said that a new compulsory history curriculum will also be introduced following public consultations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Early childhood development<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Government aims to enrol all South African children in a two-year compulsory Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme before starting Grade 1.<\/p>\n<p>Presenting her departmental <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/329507\/big-changes-coming-to-south-african-schools\/\">budget<\/a> <\/strong>in July 2019, Motshekga said that ECD will improve the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo achieve that goal, we need to urgently proceed with the implementation of the two-years of ECD before Grade 1 and the systematic relocation of the responsibility for ECD from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education,\u201d Motshekga said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Department of Basic Education is working closely with the Department of Social Development and other partners to oversee the migration, and proceed with the process towards two years of compulsory ECD for all children before they enter Grade 1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Motshekga said that her department will\u00a0develop a comprehensive plan for the different workstreams involved in the ECD function shift (Grade R, Grade RR, and Birth to 4), in collaboration with the relevant partners in government.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/363568\/south-african-matric-students-can-get-3-different-pass-certificates-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South African matric students can get 3 different \u2018pass\u2019 certificates \u2013 here\u2019s what you need to know<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As parents and students prepare for another school year, the Department of Education is working to introduce a number of changes at South Africa&#8217;s schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":292484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-364486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364486"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":367330,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364486\/revisions\/367330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}