By Thapelo Molefe

South Africa has entered a new phase in its higher-education reform effort, with the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) new recognition policy allowing private institutions that meet strict criteria to be formally designated as universities or university colleges.

The shift comes as the national higher-education conversation reaches a crescendo, marked by ongoing instability within the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), controversies around Sector Education and Training Authority appointments, and campus unrest linked to funding delays.

It also follows South Africa’s leadership role in this year’s Group of Twenty (G20) Education Working Group, where the global agenda focused on future-ready skills, strengthened financing, and public–private collaboration.

The change is anchored in DHET’s Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types, recently gazetted, and is further unpacked in a sector position paper titled Unlocking Capacity, Advancing Equity, drafted by private providers in response to the policy. The paper says that the policy update is one of the most significant in decades, opening the way for greater system-wide capacity, collaboration, and innovation.

Unlocking Capacity, Advancing Equity contends that the new institutional recognition framework brings regulatory language closer to “the lived reality” of a system in which private institutions already teach, research, and deliver programmes at university level.

It notes that enrolment in private higher-education institutions has almost tripled since 2010, rising from about 90,000 students to roughly 286,000 by 2023, and now accounting for just over 20% of all higher-education students in South Africa. This growth has taken place alongside relatively stagnant enrolments at public universities.

The policy update arrives as the country faces mounting pressure to accommodate a growing youth population. More than 330,000 matriculants qualify for higher education annually, but only about 200,000 seats exist in public universities, leaving tens of thousands locked out every year.

“The existing public infrastructure simply cannot meet the growing need,” the position paper argues.

Under DHET’s new recognition framework, eligible private institutions that offer accredited programmes, support research, and demonstrate community impact may apply for classification as universities or university colleges, subject to quality assurance by the Council on Higher Education and other statutory bodies.

The position paper describes the move as a “bold and necessary shift” that modernises oversight and acknowledges the contribution private providers already make to national development.

Crucially, the document notes that South Africa’s current regulatory model – led by the Council on Higher Education, the Higher Education Quality Committee, the South African Qualifications Authority, and DHET – was built to protect students during a period when “fly-by-night” institutions were common.

But today, it argues, the system’s slow, linear approval processes can delay new programmes by years, even in fields where skills shortages are acute.

“In some cases, the process from curriculum design to final accreditation may take years… even where the provider has a long history of compliance,” the paper states, calling for risk-based and future-fit regulatory pathways that distinguish between trusted institutions and new entrants.

The position paper accompanying the release warns that delays in modernising the education system could have long-term consequences for both inclusion and economic growth.

Africa is the world’s youngest continent, with around three-quarters of its population under 35.

Across the continent, more than 400 million young people are between 15 and 35. By 2040, the number completing secondary or tertiary education is expected to more than double.

Yet 11 million young Africans enter the labour market each year, with over 40% lacking the skills required for work. More than a quarter of 15- to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment, or training.

At the start of the 2025 academic year, more than 337,000 eligible matriculants competed for just 202,000 public university seats. With median household incomes at about R95,770 a year and average annual tuition at around R55,900, the majority of households cannot afford higher education without assistance.

NSFAS, which received over 608,000 applications for 2025, could only provisionally fund 442,079 students.

These pressures, the paper says, make the expansion of higher-education capacity through both public and private providers not optional but essential.

The document details how private higher-education institutions have “quietly become essential partners” in expanding access, noting that they are “fully regulated, quality-assured, and held to the same programme and qualification standards as public universities”.

Many offer programmes in applied sciences, law, digital technologies, biotechnology, business, and the creative industries, while also embedding work-integrated learning and industry-aligned curricula.

Eduvos, a major contributor to the document and one of the country’s largest private higher-education providers, says that it now serves tens of thousands of students annually across multiple campuses. The institution argues that the sector is ready to play a larger role, with strong graduate employment outcomes, distributed campuses, and flexible delivery models that serve both school-leavers and adult learners.

The paper stresses that private institutions are not seeking “preferential treatment” but want to be “recognised, integrated, and included” in national planning.

“Private institutions cannot replace public universities, nor do they seek to,” the document states.

“Instead, they can complement them by expanding capacity, diversifying pathways, and accelerating responsiveness to industry and labour market shifts.”

The position paper proposes a system-wide compact to formalise collaboration between government, public universities, private institutions, business, and civil society.

It identifies the need for a shared national vision, modernised regulatory pathways, inclusive financing models that expand beyond NSFAS, stronger industry engagement in curriculum development, deeper institutional collaboration on research and postgraduate development, and an updated public understanding of private education as part of the national system.

The authors argue that without such a compact, the country risks continuing with fragmented systems that cannot respond to demand or prepare students for emerging labour-market needs.

They describe DHET’s new recognition policy as a “symbol and signal” that all credible providers have a role to play in shaping the future of higher education. But they warn that the policy must be followed by infrastructure investment, regulatory reform, and financing innovation to make a measurable national impact.

“The private sector is ready to contribute its capacity, innovation, industry relationships, and infrastructure,” the paper concludes.

“Government has taken the first courageous step. The sector stands ready to assist, and to partner in this journey of reform and impact.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

Graeme College’s 1st XI carved their names into the national cricketing record books this weekend, becoming the first team in South Africa to officially qualify for the inaugural Switch Schools SA20 Finals, set for March 2026.

The Makhanda side clinched the honour after a composed, disciplined, and unbeaten run through the Focus Schools tournament in East London, where they defeated Queen’s College by 40 runs in a tense final on Sunday.

The achievement marks a major step forward for the school, which reached the semi-finals of the national tournament.

This time, with a balanced attack and calm batting under pressure, Graeme ensured they went one stage further, sealing their qualification after yet another close contest against long-time rivals Queen’s College, whom Graeme edged by three wickets in a rain-affected 15-over final.

Queen’s, having elected to bat, were restricted to 76 runs for 7 wickets, thanks largely to a superb two-over burst from Jordan Damons, who took four wickets, conceded 11 runs and ripped through the middle order.

In response, Graeme paced their chase smartly, with contributions from Enrique Strydom (19 runs), Andrew Muir (15 runs) and Caleb Jattiem (14 runs) guiding the team to safety with overs to spare.

The three-wicket victory secured yet another big-match win over Queen’s, their second of the tournament, and reaffirmed their composure in pressure situations.

The semi-final earlier in the day against Prestige College presented a different kind of challenge.

After being sent in to bat, Graeme cruised to 78 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in just 8.3 overs, powered by a commanding 43 runs not out from Corbin Tidbury and a polished 29 runs not out from Strydom.

But torrential rain cut the match short, forcing a nervy bowl-out to decide the finalist.

In the decisive moment, it was Tidbury, already in form with the bat, who held his nerve and hit the only successful bowl-out strike, giving Graeme a 1–0 win and safe passage to the final.

The team’s unbeaten run also featured standout individual performances, none more memorable than Luphelo Mdyesha’s incredible 5/7 in four overs against Hudson Park in the opening game.

His spell set the tone for the entire tournament, ensuring Graeme began the weekend with confidence and authority.

Another consistent performer was Kitts McConnachie, whose all-round brilliance in the longer-format final of the Focus Schools leg (played the same weekend) earned high praise.

His composed 30 runs from 19 balls and 2 wickets while bowling showcased the squad’s impressive depth and balance, attributes that proved decisive throughout the competition.

The victory in East London capped off a weekend of resilience, discipline, and belief.

Graeme College now turns their focus to the national finals in March next year.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Lebone Rodah Mosima 

Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube on Monday warned that failing to invest sufficiently in early childhood development would saddle the country with years of costly remedial work and squandered human potential, as she launched a new outcomes-based fund for early learning.

“If we miss this window, we pay for it many times over, through laborious remediation, through interventions and ultimately through lost potential,” Gwarube said at the Midrand launch.

“And while remediation has its place, nothing is more powerful, more cost-effective, or more transformative than getting it right from the start.”

The three-year fund, backed by domestic and international donors and administered in partnership with the global Education Outcomes Fund, is valued at about R496 million.

Gwarube said the initiative would help shift South Africa’s basic education system towards the earliest years of a child’s life, when interventions are most likely to change long-term outcomes.

“Science, evidence and experience tell us clearly that by the time a child turns five, the wiring that determines how they will engage with the world is largely in place,” she said.

“Between the ages of three and five, the brain is at its most malleable.

“This is when children learn to regulate their emotions, to listen, to make sense of new information, to persist through difficulty, the very skills that determine whether they will thrive in the classroom and in life.”

Early childhood care and education were a central pillar of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s seventh administration, she said.

“That is why Early Childhood Care and Education is not an add-on,” she said. “It is not a ‘nice to have.’ For the seventh administration, the foundations of learning are the backbone of a foundationally strong basic education system. It is a nation-building imperative.”

Citing the government’s 2024 Thrive by Five Index, she said the country faced deep inequalities before children even reached primary school.

“In September, we released the 2024 Thrive by Five Index, giving us a clear, data-driven picture of where our youngest citizens stand,” she said.

“Only 42% of four-year-olds in early learning programmes are developmentally on track. For children from wealthier households, the probability doubles. And for children in our poorest communities, access to quality early learning places them five months ahead of their peers even before Grade 1.

 “These gaps do not close on their own. They widen. And by age 10, they shape life trajectories,” she said.

Gwarube said the government’s vision was universal access to quality early learning by 2030, “with the most vulnerable children at the centre of our efforts,” and pledged to create 1.1 million additional “safe, quality early learning spaces” over the next five years.

“Our commitment is simple and non-negotiable: by 2030, every child – not just those who can afford it or those in certain communities – must have access to safe, nurturing and high-quality early learning,” she said. “This is not aspirational. It is a national obligation.”

The new fund, designed with National Treasury and provincial governments, will use an outcomes-based financing model in which payments are linked to independently verified improvements in children’s development, rather than to inputs such as training sessions or infrastructure alone.

Working with selected non-profit providers, the programme aims to give more than 115,000 additional children access to quality early learning and provide structured support to 2,000 early learning centres to improve teaching, learning environments and developmental outcomes.

“Today we launch not just a fund, but a new way of doing things in South Africa – a way that is collaborative, accountable, outcomes-driven, and unapologetically focused on the child,” Gwarube said.

She said civil society and donors – including organisations such as the LEGO Foundation, Yellowwoods, FirstRand Foundation, the Standard Bank Tutuwa Community Foundation and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust – had “kept this sector alive when the policy environment was still catching up” and that the fund would now “honour that history and build directly on it”.

“We know that continuing on the same path will not deliver universal access,” she said. “We know the obstacles such as infrastructure, workforce development, sustainable funding. But we also know that no investment yields higher returns than the one we make in a child’s earliest years.”

Over the next three years, data from the programme will feed into wider reforms, including professionalising the early childhood workforce, redesigning funding models and expanding quality spaces across provinces, the minister said.

Chief programmes officer at the Education Outcomes Fund, Milena Castellnou, said the fund “brings together an extraordinary coalition of partners, public, private, philanthropic, and community-based actors working toward a single vision”.  

The fund moved away from a focus on predetermined activities, which may or may not achieve impact, “toward a laser focus on outcomes, [which] represents a radical transformation,” she said.

“For the government of South Africa, it means ensuring that every rand invested in early childhood development translates into measurable improvements in children’s lives”. 

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

Parliament erupted into a heated debate as MPs confronted one of South Africa’s most contentious education questions, whether the country should finally scrap the idea of the 30% minimum pass level in matric.

The debate, initiated by Build One SA (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane on Friday, saw wide support across political benches for the argument that the current low subject threshold fails learners.

However, the MPs differed sharply on causes, solutions and potential consequences for the schooling system failures.

Tabling his motion, Maimane urged the National Assembly to move the pass mark from 30% to 50% progressively, saying that the country must embrace higher expectations if it hopes to build a competitive, future-ready generation.

“Ending the 30% pass rate is not only reform, it signals the seriousness we hold about standards. When we tell learners that 30% is enough, we are ignoring 70% of their potential,” he said.

Maimane linked the low standards to ongoing failures in early childhood development, overcrowded classrooms, literacy crises and unequal infrastructure.

Raising the bar, he said, must accompany reforms that address the roots of underperformance.

Despite differing political ideologies, most parties backed the call to scrap the 30% minimum in individual subjects, with several MPs describing it as an insult to young people’s capabilities.

uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) MP Sihle Ngubane said the 30% standard embraced mediocrity. He condemned it as a barrier to black children reaching their full potential.

Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) MP Mandla Shikwambana delivered one of the most blistering attacks, saying the low bar buried the potential of black children.

“Our children are not failing; they are being failed by overcrowded classrooms, schools without laboratories, and teachers who themselves came through a broken system,” he said.

The EFF insisted the pass benchmark should rise to 50% across subjects.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP Busaphi Machi warned that communicating 30% as acceptable was preparing children for disappointment, reinforcing failure rather than ambition.

While acknowledging the need for higher standards and stronger outcomes, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube warned against potential misrepresentations of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) system.

She said that “there is no such thing as a 30% overall pass mark in the NSC”.

She said that matriculants must satisfy a three-tier set of requirements; 40% in home language, 40% in two additional subjects, and 30% in three more.

Only 189 of the 724,000 learners who wrote matric last year passed with this absolute minimum combination.

She said that the overwhelming majority exceed these thresholds, warning that simply raising the Grade 12 bar could push dropout rates higher if foundational literacy and numeracy gaps remain unaddressed.

Gwarube urged Parliament to focus on early-grade interventions, teacher development and curriculum strengthening.

“Raising the matric pass rate alone will not solve the foundational learning crisis. If a child cannot read for meaning by Grade 4, their chances of succeeding beyond diminish sharply,” she said.

She highlighted the newly established National Education and Training Council as a key body for reviewing progression requirements.

Not all MPs agreed that raising the pass percentage alone would transform outcomes.

Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana cautioned Parliament against becoming “obsessed with thresholds”, saying the country risked creating a system where certificates appear impressive but reflect shallow learning.

“We cannot reduce education to a number. The question must remain of what competencies do our learners actually have,” he said.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Nazley Sharif echoed concerns about distortion, calling for a clear, honest and evidence-based conversation rather than relying on soundbites or political performance.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Charmaine Ndlela

The Free State Department of Education on Monday launched a seven-day Holiday Support Programme for Grade R–9 learners at Tjhebelopele Primary School in Bloemfontein, aiming to keep pupils safe and engaged during the festive season while preparing them for the 2026 academic year.

According to the department’s spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, the initiative, led by MEC Dr Mamiki Julia Maboya, is designed to protect learners during the high-risk holiday period while supporting their academic and physical development.

“The programme brings together curriculum reinforcement, values-based education, social cohesion activities, and structured sporting sessions that also support early conditioning for the upcoming Athletics season.”

During her keynote address at the launch of the programme, Maboya stressed the importance of caring for learners beyond the classroom.

“No child should be idle, unsafe, or left vulnerable while the world around them becomes more dangerous,” she said.

“We must provide them with the knowledge that shields, the discipline that anchors, and values that guide.”

The department said the initiative aligns with South Africa’s national theme for the 2025 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, because it places learner protection and wellbeing at the centre of public action.

The department called on parents, caregivers, traditional leaders, faith-based organisations, youth movements and community structures to work with schools to ensure that children remain safe, supervised and supported during the holidays.

Maboya said the programme’s impact extends beyond the festive period.

“A Safer child becomes a stronger learner. A stronger learner becomes a capable adult and builds a prosperous province – this programme is about the future of the Free State,” she said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Marcus Moloko

South Africa’s latest crime statistics painted a harrowing picture, with nearly 200 rapes recorded on school grounds in the first two quarters of the 2025–2026 reporting year, an indication of the collapse of safety in spaces meant to protect children.

The latest crime stats confirmed the reason for marches, where protesters called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare gender based violence a national disaster.

A shocking revelation in the statistics, which were released last week, was the almost 200 rapes committed on school grounds between April and September 2025.

Political parties warned that schools were increasingly becoming sites of violent trauma.

The Democratic Alliance had previously described schools as a “bloodbath,” citing murders, assaults, and rapes within educational institutions.

“Between October and December last year, there were 7 murders, 24 attempted murders, 252 cases of assault/grievous bodily harm (GBH), and 61 rapes on the premises of schools, universities, colleges, day care/after care facilities,” the party said in a statement.

Fast forward to the current stats, and Action SA’s MP Dereleen James insisted that crime stats were not mere numbers but essential tools for policy decisions and public oversight.

James warned that the country was being captured by rampant lawlessness as murder, GBV, and gang-related killings continued to escalate.

She reiterated how the statistics painted a grim picture of a nation under siege and said that the release coincided with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, yet the data showed that GBV had increased across both quarters.

“Even schools are not being spared. Almost 200 rapes were recorded on school grounds during this period,” James said.

The party noted the delayed release of the 2025/2026 first and second quarter crime stats to argue that they revealed how GBV had increased across both quarters, confirming that vulnerable South Africans continued to face escalating danger in communities across the country.

James said ActionSA had continuously raised the alarm on escalating gang violence in the Western Cape, which had continued to rise, with data indicating 282 gang-related murders between April and June, followed by 293 between July and September, “making [it] clear that communities remain dangerously vulnerable to warring gangs”.

“In Cape Town, the picture becomes even more troubling. Four of the top five murder stations in the country fall within the city, making clear that it remains the epicentre of a deeper failure to end the violence terrorising forgotten communities.”

She said the delayed release of the crime stats inspired little confidence that government remained properly capacitated to deal with violent crime.

“[I]t is increasingly clear that South Africa has been captured by rampant lawlessness,” she said.

The latest crime stats showed that sexual offences remained high, with rape cases on the rise despite years of activism.

While civil society groups such as Women For Change, behind the nationwide shutdown, welcomed Ramaphosa’s declaration of GBV as a national disaster, activists said that government had failed to translate declarations into meaningful interventions.

Education unions and child protection organisations had demanded stronger safety measures, including the automatic inclusion of abusive educators in the Child Protection Register and the provision of psycho-social support in high-risk areas.

In August 2025, social justice group Section27 said School Governing Bodies (SGB), provincial and national departments of education, teacher unions, and policy makers needed to be unified in fighting a battle of violence seen in schools, as they were mirrors of deep-rooted issues facing society.

“In South Africa, high levels of gender-based violence, poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse create an environment where violence can take root and spread. This reflects within schools where we see both learner-on-learner violence and violence perpetrated by adults on learners.

“To truly make our schools safe for learners and teachers, the various stakeholders within our education system responsible for implementing policies need to play their role,” said Section27.

INSIDE EDUCATION