The third skills development strategy is subsequent on the integration of programmes to create the department of higher education and training. It hopes to promote partnerships between employers, public education institutions, private training providers, and sector education and training authorities. The strategy seeks to prioritise solidifying the relationship among specified stakeholders.

The strategic plan aims to improve access to learning while combating the dual challenge of equity and development. It strives to ensure that the skills needed to drive South Africa’s economic growth and social development are delivered at an increasing rate for both young people and adults.

The policy emphasises the important role of parents and primary caregivers in providing care, support and upbringing of their children. The national policy focuses on providing comprehensive, universally available and equitable early childhood development services. The Policy covers the period from conception until the year before children enter formal school or, in the case of children with developmental difficulties and disabilities, until the year before the calendar year they turn seven (7), which marks the age of compulsory schooling or special education.

The Strategy forms part of the implementation of education white paper 6 – Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. The strategy allows children facing educational barriers to exercise their basic education rights, and access to support services. It introduces new roles, and responsibilities for the
education support system in the country: the district-based support teams, special school resource centres, full-service schools, and the institution-level support teams.

This represents the first distinct and independent strategic plan of the Department of Basic Education. The strategic plan sets out the three-year objectives and activities of the department, with emphasis on implementation and performance monitoring of the basic education system. The key objectives include; streamlining of the curriculum; development of strategies on the assessment of learners; recognition of the critical role played by teachers in delivering quality teaching and learning, and the role played by principals in management of schools; distribution of learning materials; and promotion of e-education strategies.

This serves as the first distinct policy of the ministry of higher education and training (MHET) dedicated to the use of distance education in higher education programmes. The MHET seeks to use the framework to chart a course towards the development of South African distance higher education as an indispensable and integral component of the nation’s higher education system. The policy is formulated as a result of the increasing growth of the distance education component of higher education in the country.

Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 (Summary)

This represents a review of the planning framework of the department of basic education (DBE), to reflect changes in functional areas, institutional structures, and plans and programmes at the national level; and allow for the coverage of issues pertaining to provinces in provincial programmes and plans. The areas of focus for the five-year sectoral strategic plan include the provision of learning and teaching support materials (LTSM), support for rural and small schools, and recruitment and deployment of educators.

The delivery agreement is long-term and applies to the whole government. It provides detail to the outputs, targets, indicators and key activities to achieve outcome 1; Improved quality of basic education. The agreement identifies the required inputs and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the various delivery partners. It should be read alongside the Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realization of Schooling 2025.

The purposes for which the report was developed include: to record the progress that has been made at a national and provincial level in the implementation processes; to track progress on priorities outlined in the National Inclusive Education Strategy of 2011; to highlight models of good practice at the provincial level and areas of need for additional resources, and to make recommendations on norms and standards as well as amendments required to ensure that South Africa meets its national and international educational obligations on inclusive education.

The full version of the action plan is intended for managers responsible for implementation, and people responsible for monitoring the success of implementation. It highlights the 27 goals of the action plans and specific delineations. The plan is South Africa’s foremost comprehensive long-term sector plan for schools; and it guides the ten education departments dealing with basic education (the national Department of Basic Education and the nine provincial departments).

The full version of the action plan is directed at a broad range of stakeholders for the education sector, ranging from parents, teachers, school principals, and officials at the district, to foreign investors looking to invest in the development of the sector. It highlights the 27 goals of the action plans and specific delineations. The plan provides continuity, as it follows from the basic structure of the 2011 action. It guides the ten education departments dealing with basic education (the national Department of Basic Education and the nine provincial departments).

The Strategy forms part of the implementation of education white paper 6 – Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. The strategy allows children facing educational barriers to exercise their basic education rights, and access to support services. It introduces new roles, and responsibilities for the
education support system in the country: the district-based support teams, special school resource centers, full-service schools, and the institution-level support teams.

The equitable policy sets out to address the persisting inequality challenges and inadequacies in allocation and access to basic school infrastructure services; laboratories, computers, and classrooms. The policy seeks to fill the gap of the lack of specific national and provincial policies. It serves as a framework to guide the development of physical teaching and learning environment.

The national reading strategy has the vision to ensure every South African learner becomes a fluent reader who reads to learn and reads for enjoyment and enrichment. It underpins South Africa’s participation in United Nations development campaigns, including; the UNESCO Literacy Decade 2003-2013, and the Education for All (EFA) campaign, which aims to increase literacy rates by 50% by the year 2015.

The government is using the period covered by the strategic and operational plans to collaborate with provincial governments, NGOs, and social and private partners, to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of education, so as to ensure that all elements of the system are subjected to rigorous scrutiny. The goals and objectives contained are anchored on the overarching goal of the department: to ensure quality education for all.

The guidelines are premised on the sixth white paper on Special Needs Education Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. They serve as steps towards making all ordinary schools, full-service/inclusive schools. The guidelines contain criteria for schools, districts, and provinces, to measure progress towards inclusion; incentives are also offered, as a form of rewarding excellence.

The strategic plan outlines the building blocks necessary to ensure a strong foundation for the educational system. It strives to ensure that the skills needed to drive South Africa’s economic growth and social development are delivered at an increasing rate for both young people and adults. The revisions apply to the sub-programmed of universities, related to their academic planning and management.

The interim policy is in recognition of the critical importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) as a fundamental pillar of the foundation for lifelong learning. The government aims to incorporate ECD into the components of the policy framework for education and training in South Africa. It seeks to leverage programmes and strategies to help families and communities meet the needs of children from birth to at least nine years of age. The policy will “holistically cover the development of the young child and ensure an environment characterised by safety, protection, anti-bias and cultural fairness, to ensure that attitudinal and psychological healing, reconciliation and the start of nation-building can take place at a young age”.

This serves as a call for comments on the Action plan for 2014. The plan is a draft document of the Department of Basic Education intended to elicit public input.