For the past three days, the 2026 Basic Education Sector Lekgotla has been held in Gauteng under the theme “strengthening foundations for a resilient and future-ready education system”
Each year, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) hosts this forum bringing together national and provincial education authorities, policymakers, sector collaborators, civil society, and specialists to identify key issues and shape shared goals for the sector.
Ahead of the Lekgotla’s conclusion today, Build One South Africa (BOSA) calls for a move beyond diagnosis and discussion, and for a commitment to a set of interventions to improve basic education in South Africa.
Warm words and lip service do not teach children to read, write or count. BOSA therefore puts forward the following 10 resolutions, which we urge the Lekgotla to urgently adopt if it is serious about injecting quality and improving learner outcomes in basic education.
- Scrap the 30% matric pass mark and replace it with a minimum 50% requirement to restore the credibility of the National Senior Certificate and raise expectations for learners and educators alike.
- Establish an Independent Education Ombudsman (Inspector-General of Education) to oversee school standards, teacher performance, and systemic failures, reporting directly to Parliament.
- Raise teacher salaries while curtailing excessive union power, particularly where unions obstruct accountability, reform, and the best interests of learners.
- Replace Life Orientation with a mandatory, examinable skills subject focused on critical thinking, logic, systems thinking, and general knowledge.
- Introduce learner incentives during the academic year, especially for STEM subjects, linked to regular assessments and performance tracking.
- Prioritise the primary phase of education, including Early Childhood Development, to address the national crisis in reading for meaning and foundational numeracy.
- Introduce a School Voucher Programme to empower parents with real choice and drive competition, accountability, and improvement across schools.
- Expand extended and catch-up programmes for underperforming learners, including a supported post-matric year where necessary.
- Reprioritise the education budget towards digital learning and infrastructure, including broadband connectivity and properly resourced computer centres in schools.
- Conduct a nationwide teacher skills audit to ensure all educators are adequately equipped to teach the curriculum effectively and receive targeted support where gaps exist.
BOSA maintains that South Africa’s education crisis is not the result of a lack of spending, but of poor prioritisation, weak oversight, and low expectations. Systemic challenges that further threaten the future of South Africa’s children are mounting.
Foundational learning: 81% of children cannot read for meaning by age 10; over 500 schools do not offer mathematics.
Access to resources: Only 5,863 of 22,511 public schools have a library; many classrooms lack sufficient textbooks and teaching materials.
Higher education pipeline: Only 47% of learners achieve a Bachelor’s pass, with fewer than 15% progressing to university. The 30% pass mark entrenches low standards.
School infrastructure and safety: 10,938 schools lack flushing toilets; 383 have no running water; 93% of staff have not been vetted against the Sex Offenders Register.
Budget and governance failures: Provincial departments underspent R150 million last year, failing to deliver resources effectively to schools.
South Africa cannot build an ethical state, grow the economy or create jobs without fixing basic education first. The Basic Education Sector Lekgotla should seize this moment and act.
Media Enquiries:
Roger Solomons
BOSA Spokesperson
072 299 3551