The Department of Basic Education notes the public interest in the draft new History Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements for Grades 4 to 12, published for public comment under Government Notice No. 7285 of 20 March 2026 in terms of section 3(4)(l) of the National Education Policy Act, 1996 (Act 27 of 1996).
The current publication forms part of a curriculum review process that has been under way for several years. During the fifth administration, the former Minister of Basic Education appointed a Ministerial Task Team to review the History curriculum. Its terms of reference included developing a new History curriculum for Grades 4 to 12, conducting provincial consultations, receiving public inputs and comments, screening textbooks for alignment with the proposed curriculum, and proposing teacher development programmes.
The Task Team commenced its work in 2019. A draft framework was developed, and provincial consultations were undertaken across all nine provinces during 2023 and 2024. Inputs arising from those consultations were incorporated into the draft documents before they were presented to the Minister in January 2025. The draft was thereafter presented to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, to internal departmental structures, to HEDCOM, and to the Council of Education Ministers, which approved publication for public comment in November 2025. The draft curriculum has also been submitted to Umalusi for appraisal.
The Department wishes to emphasise that the documents currently in the public domain are draft curriculum documents. Their publication is intended to enable structured public participation before any decision is taken on a final curriculum instrument. Public submissions will therefore be important in informing the Department’s consideration of the draft in its current form and any further refinement of the proposed curriculum.
The proposed documents indicate that the curriculum is intended to develop disciplinary knowledge and skills in History across Grades 4 to 12. The draft defines school History in terms of enquiry, evidence, interpretation and critical engagement with the past.
It provides for the study of ancient and modern pasts, the use of historical and archaeological sources and the development of historical thinking, historical consciousness and historical culture.
The framework underpinning the draft also considered a broad range of fields, including historiography, material culture and archaeology, African history, heritage and local history, labour history, language, gender and culture history, inland history, world history, pedagogy, historical skills and assessment and progression.
The Department is aware that some commentary has raised questions about whether elements of South African history or world history may be under-emphasised or omitted. The public comment process is the appropriate mechanism for those issues to be raised in a detailed and constructive manner. The Department welcomes substantive submissions on scope, balance, content coverage, sequencing, assessment, historical framing and any other aspect of the draft. The draft itself states that oral history is included to broaden the evidentiary base and recover perspectives that were previously marginalised, while also expressly stating that written sources and the colonial and apartheid archive, read critically, remain important repositories of history.
The Government Notice provides that the draft curriculum statements cover Grades 4–6, Grades 7–9 and Grades 10–12, and that the schedules are available on the Department’s website under the Curriculum and Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement documents.
The call for comment opened on publication in the Gazette on 20 March 2026 and closes 30 days from the date of publication of the Notice (i.e. 19 April 2026). Interested persons are invited to submit comments clearly marked for the specific CAPS document and page number.
Comments may be submitted as follows: to the Director-General, for the attention of Florence Modipa, Chief Education Specialist: Curriculum Policy, Department of Basic Education, 222 Struben Street, Pretoria, 0001; or to the Director-General, for the attention of Florence Modipa, Department of Basic Education, Private Bag X895, Pretoria, 0001; or by email to modipa.f@dbe.gov.za.
The draft documents and comment template can be accessed via the Department's website.
The Department encourages educators, subject specialists, higher education institutions, professional bodies, heritage institutions, civil society organisations, parents and members of the public to engage the draft documents carefully and to submit focused, evidence-based comments through the published process.
Enquiries:
Acting Director Communication and Research
Terence Khala
Cell: 081 758 1546
Media Liaison Officer
Lukhanyo Vangqa
Cell: 066 302 1533
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