Opening Address by the Honourable Minister of Basic Education at the 7th Basic Education Lekgotla - 26-18 January 2022

Oct 19, 2026

Opening address by the Honourable Minister of Basic Education at the 7th Basic Education Lekgotla, held at Emperors Palace in Kemptom Park from 26 to 18 January 2022. The address frames the theme of equipping learners with knowledge and skills for a changing world in the COVID-19 context and outlines aims to assess mid-term performance, analyse COVID-19 learning losses and dropout, and present a recovery plan. It also highlights assessment and data use, monitoring and evaluation, ICT-enabled curriculum delivery, care for vulnerable learners, teacher continuous learning, and community mobilisation partnerships.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Opening remarks and welcoming guests

Lekgotla theme and objectives

Planning and strengthening government response

Inclusive education, learning outcomes, and accountability

OPENING ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION AT THE 7TH BASIC EDUCATION LEKGOTLA HELD AT EMPERORS PALACE, KEMPTON PARK 26-18 January 2022 THEME: “Equipping learners with knowledge and skills for a changing world in the context of COVID-19” Programme Director; The Honourable Minister of Education and esteemed guest from Seychelles; Honourable Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Dr Reginah Mhaule; Honourable Chairpersons and the Honourable Members of the Portfolio and Select Committees of Parliament in attendance; Honourable MEC for Education and your Heads of Departments; Leadership of our strategic partners – teacher unions, SGB associations, statutory bodies, learner formations, and all nongovernmental organisations; Academics , researchers and education experts; Members of the media, Esteemed Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; Good Morning. Let me also welcome and thank all attendees for heeding to our call and graced us with your presence at one of the DBE’s important calendar events – the 7th Basic Education Sector Lekgotla. Some of you, have joined us physically here at the Emperors Palace, and the majority are with us virtually. Programme Director, this year’s Lekgotla, is organised under the theme “equipping learners with knowledge and skills for a changing world in the context of COVID-19”!! We chose this theme , as it aptly illustrates the main objectives of this Lekgotla, namely – 􀁸 To assess the mid-term performance of the 6th Administration in basic education; 􀁸 To interrogate the impact and cost – both materially and humanly, of COVID-19 on learning losses, learner drop-out , and basic education broadly; 􀁸 To discuss and present a comprehensive recovery plan to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and recover the learning losses; 􀁸 To deliberate on the utilisation of assessment practices and data to develop strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of learning outcomes and to bolster monitoring and evaluation oversight; 􀁸 To assess the progress made in the implementation of programmes and mechanisms to equip learners the with knowledge and skills for a changing world; 􀁸 To elucidate the critical elements of strengthening the foundations for learning , as well as the efficiency and accountability in the system; 􀁸 To strengthen the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to support the delivery of our curriculum; 􀁸 To strengthen the package of care and support for vulnerable learners, especially the boy child , in the COVID-19 context and future pandemics; 􀁸 To discuss mechanisms to enable all teachers to engage in professional continuous learning, and to ensure that they are equipped with knowledge and skills to deliver the curriculum within the context of a changing world; and 􀁸 To interrogate mechanisms for meaningful and sustainable community mobilisation and partnerships in education. We have invited academics, scholars, researchers and renowned speakers from our South African shores, the African Continent and diaspora, and abroad , to address us on a variety of critical topics that will further amplify the importance of the theme for the Lekgotla and its objectives. Mine Programme Director , is to set the scene, and allow the programme to flow. Later in the day, we will be joined by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa, who has graciously agreed to make our Basic Education Sector Makgotla , amongst other flagship events, part of his annual programme. Programme Director, we hold this Lekgotla at an important time in the psyche and history of our country. Historically, we have used the opportunity to share information. and we continue to emphasise this in our work, but we are in a different mode today. We are in planning and systems strengthening mode. We have assessed where we are in government’s Sixth Administration, we have estimated the huge impact that the pandemic has

FAQs

What is the theme of the 7th Basic Education Lekgotla?

The theme is “Equipping learners with knowledge and skills for a changing world in the context of COVID-19.”

What key objectives are stated for this Lekgotla?

The address calls for assessing mid-term performance, examining COVID-19’s impact and costs on learning losses and dropout, presenting a recovery plan, and strengthening assessment, data use, ICT support, and monitoring and evaluation.

How does the address describe the country’s approach to dealing with COVID-19 in basic education?

It states the need to strengthen responses to learning losses and psycho-social impacts, prioritise care for vulnerable learners, use data to target scarce resources, and strengthen teacher, parent, and learner support through the system.

Oct 19, 2026

Uploaded by Emma Wilson