This document provides the necessary policy support and assistance in developing, organizing, structuring and implementing an assessment framework to maintain the Senior Certificate.

This policy applies uniformly in all provincial departments of education, districts and schools. It aims to improve access to education, as well as the quality of education for all in rural schools. The policy provides a framework for: the development of context-specific, relevant and sustainable strategies to deal with the challenges in rural schools whilst drawing on strengths in rural communities; and improving the quality of education in rural schools that will allow the creation of appropriate strategies and practical intervention to improve the quality of education in rural schools.

This policy document stipulates the following: programme requirements, conditions for the awarding of the senior certificate, as amended; and rules of combination for the awarding of the senior certificate, as amended. The senior certificate, as amended, seeks to provide adult candidates with an opportunity to obtain a qualification that will allow them to participate in economic, social and political activities, and provide candidates with an opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills.

National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF) are amended by updating the National Targets table (Par. 109 of the NNSSF) to include 2015 and 2016 indicative target amounts: and the National Poverty Distribution table (Par. 111 of the NNSSF).

This document is designed to highlight the abolishment of corporal punishment in schools and to provide clear guidance to provinces, districts and schools on how to deal with issues of corporal punishment. The protocol aims to create a national framework to standardize the education sector’s response to corporal punishment and to facilitate implementation of the prohibition of corporal punishment throughout the education system and embed the positive behaviour Intervention Systems programmes – in order to empower all stakeholders to respond constructively towards learner ill-discipline.

The purpose of the protocol for the management and reporting of sexual abuse and harassment is to provide schools, districts and provinces with standard operating procedures for addressing allegations, and to specifically detail how schools must respond to reports of sexual abuse and harassment perpetrated against learners, educators and other school staff. It emphasizes that schools are mandated to assist victims of sexual abuse and harassment by following standard reporting procedures and through the provision of appropriate support to learners.

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.

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

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 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).

An abridged version of the delivery agreement for outcome 1; and improved quality of basic education.

The curriculum assessment policy statement outlining the guidelines for responding to learner diversity in the classroom. The guidelines are intended to provide teachers, principals, subject advisors, administrators, school governors and other personnel, parameters and strategies on how to respond to learner diversity in the classrooms through the curriculum. They are intended for school based teacher development by the Institution level support teams and district based support teams.

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 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.

This plan supports the objective of the National Department of Agriculture Framework for Sustainable Resource Use and Management that was released in 1999 to facilitate a coordinated approach to achieving an ecologically and economically sustainable agricultural sector in South Africa. This plan provides necessary information on the institutional arrangements and programmes relating to environmental aspects.

This document defines Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) as an active tuberculosis disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli that are resistant to one or more anti-TB drugs. It outlines the roles of the PCACs and NCAC and provides information on diagnosis.

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 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.