Education
Access to quality education for all is the most powerful instrument to end poverty. Government needs to start with children who are very young, providing them with the foundation they need to write and read for me
aning, to learn and develop.
It is, therefore, significant that the number of children who receive the ECD subsidy has more than doubled between 2019 and 2022, reaching one-and-a-half million children. The Department of Basic Education is streamlining the requirements for ECD centres to access support and enable thousands more to receive subsidies from government.
While at the other end of the basic education journey, government applauds last year’s matric pass rate of 80%, with all provinces showing improved results. This was up from 76% the year before. The share of bachelor passes in no-fee schools improved from 55% in 2019 to 64% in 2022.
This means that the performance of learners from poorer schools is steadily improving, confirming the value of the support that government provides to them. What these results reveal is that there is a silent revolution taking place in the schools.
“Schools must be safe and allow for effective learning and teaching.” – President Cyril Ramaphosa, SoNA, 9 February 2023, Cape Town City Hall.
The Sanitation Appropriate for Education Initiative – known as SAFE – together with government’s Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative has built 55 000 appropriate toilets with resources from the public and private sector.
To produce the skills the country needs, government is expanding vocational education and training systems through the implementation of the approved curriculum of the three-stream model.
This year, government plans to finalise the Comprehensive Student Funding Model for Higher Education, particularly for students who fall outside the current National Student Financial Aid Scheme criteria; reaching those who are known as the ‘missing middle’.
Related links
Source: State of the Nation Address Highlights [PDF]
