KwaZulu-Natal has recorded the highest rate of corporal punishment by teachers in South Africa, with 21.1% of learners in the province reporting that they were subjected to physical punishment at school in 2024.
The figure is contained in the Department of Basic Education’s General Household Survey 2024: Focus on Schooling report, based on Statistics South Africa’s General Household Survey, which was released in August.
The rate is more than three times the national rate of 6.9%.
KwaZulu-Natal was followed by the Eastern Cape, where 11.3% of learners reported experiencing corporal punishment by a teacher. The Free State and North West recorded rates of 5.3% and 5.4%, respectively.
The department said corporal punishment by teachers remained the most commonly reported form of violence experienced by learners in 2024.
“This trend is evident in all the provinces,” the report states.
Corporal punishment has been prohibited in South African schools for almost three decades.
Section 10 of the South African Schools Act states that “no person may administer corporal punishment at a school to a learner”. Anyone who contravenes the provision commits an offence and can, on conviction, face a sentence that could be imposed for assault.
KwaZulu-Natal also recorded the highest rate of physical violence by teachers, at 4%, compared with 1.1% nationally.
The province had the highest reported rate of verbal abuse by teachers at 3.6%, more than three times the national rate of 1%.
Learners in KwaZulu-Natal also reported violence from fellow learners, with 3.5% experiencing verbal abuse by other learners and 0.4% reporting physical violence by fellow learners.
Overall, only 78.2% of learners in KwaZulu-Natal reported that they had experienced no violence at school.
The Eastern Cape had the second-lowest proportion of learners reporting no violence, at 87.8%, followed by the Free State at 92.7% and North West at 93.3%.
At the other end of the scale, Gauteng recorded the highest proportion of learners reporting no violence at 97.6%, followed by Western Cape at 97% and Limpopo at 96.9%.
The national picture was considerably better than KwaZulu-Natal’s, with 91.6% of learners reporting that they had experienced no violence at school in 2024.
Despite the disparities between provinces, the DBE said the overall proportion of learners experiencing violence had been declining.
“It is encouraging to observe, however, that the overall percentage of individuals experiencing violence has been declining,” the report states.
The survey found no significant difference between male and female learners in the prevalence of experiencing corporal punishment or verbal abuse at school.
The DBE report said the General Household Survey asks learners whether they experienced violence, corporal punishment or verbal abuse at school during the three months preceding the survey, as well as the type of violence they experienced.
The findings therefore provide a snapshot of learner experiences during that period rather than a measure of every incident of violence occurring in schools across the province.
The University of South Africa (Unisa) has appointed Professor Mpho Ngoepe as its new Vice-Principal for Teaching, Learning, Community Engagement and Student Support.
Ngoepe, a C2-rated researcher by the National Research Foundation (NRF), will take up the position on 1 October following approval of his appointment by the university council.
His appointment was made after the council considered reports and recommendations from the Selection Committee, as well as advice from the Executive Committees of the Senate and Institutional Forum.
Ngoepe has more than 28 years of academic, professional and leadership experience in library and information services, higher education, research, archives and records management, corporate governance and community engagement.
He joined Unisa in August 2012 and has held several senior academic and leadership positions at the university, including Director of the School of Arts, Acting Deputy Executive Dean, Head of the Department of Information Science and Head of the Centre for Applied Information and Communication.
He currently serves as Acting Vice-Principal for Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation.
Unisa said his new portfolio would draw on his experience in academic leadership, research, postgraduate supervision, professional development and knowledge creation.
Ngoepe has published more than 100 journal articles, seven conference proceedings, 11 book chapters and three academic books. His research has focused on archives and records management, digital records, corporate governance, indigenous knowledge and languages, literacy and freedom of information.
His international academic standing was recognised in 2023 when he was included among the top 2% of scientists worldwide for career impact in a ranking by Elsevier and Stanford University based on authors published in Scopus-indexed journals.
Between 2013 and 2018, Ngoepe served as Director of Team Africa for the International Project on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) Trust, coordinated by the University of British Columbia in Canada.
During that period, the Africa team conducted research on digital records and archival education, including compiling a directory of higher education institutions offering archival studies in 38 African countries.
In 2016, the International Council on Archives appointed Ngoepe to convene a meeting of archival educators from across Africa, contributing to the organisation’s education strategy for the continent.
He has also supervised 28 master’s and 34 doctoral students to completion.
Ngoepe has also contributed to the promotion of African languages and literature. He has published two award-winning anthologies of Northern Sotho short stories, which were recommended for Grade 8 learners by the Limpopo Department of Education. He also authored a biography of 2012 Comrades Marathon champion Ludwick Mamabolo.
His professional leadership has included roles in the South African Society of Archivists, the Eastern and Southern African Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives, the National Archives Advisory Council, the Gauteng Provincial Archives Advisory Council and the Archival Education Research Institute.
He has received several awards, including the IVAISLIP/SABINET Information Officer of the Year Award in 2004, recognition from the South African Human Rights Commission and Open Democracy Advice Centre in 2007 for his work in implementing the Promotion of Access to Information Act, the Unisa Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in Research in 2020 and the South African Society of Archivists Lifetime Achiever Award in 2022.
Unisa principal and vice-chancellor Professor Puleng LenkaBula said Ngoepe’s experience would be important as the university pursued its strategic priorities.
“Unisa wishes Professor Ngoepe every success in this important new role, which carries the significant responsibility of accelerating the pace of cultivating the Catalytic Niche Areas,” LenkaBula said.
When a parent puts their child on a bus and sends them to university, they are making an enormous leap of faith.
They are trusting the university, but they are also trusting a much bigger system: the residence, the municipality, law enforcement, transport providers, accommodation operators and government.
That trust comes with a heavy responsibility. Our responsibility cannot simply be to draft policies, hold meetings or receive reports. When a system is failing, our responsibility is to change it.
This is why we must rethink how we understand student safety in South Africa.
A student does not stop being a student when they leave the campus gate. They remain a student when they walk to their residence, wait for a taxi, cross a municipal road, visit a shop or return home at night. No one can have freedom if they live in fear and the campus gate cannot become the boundary of our responsibility.
Beyond the campus gate
The tragic murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana made this painfully clear. Her story is a stark reminder that the route between where a student lives and where they study is just as critical to their safety as what happens inside the lecture hall.
Nearly seven years later, remembrance remains important, but remembrance must ultimately drive action. The question we should ask is not simply whether we remember Uyinene, but whether we have actually changed anything. That requires moving beyond a culture of responding to incidents after they happen and toward a culture of prevention.
Governance driven by outcomes, not labels
It also requires government to work differently. Serving as a Democratic Alliance deputy minister in a Government of National Unity, I recognise that South Africa’s political traditions do not always agree on how government should operate. That diversity is part of our governing reality.
However, higher education is precisely where we should be judged less by the labels we carry and more by the outcomes we deliver.
For me, that demands a practical approach: go where the problem is, listen to the people experiencing it, bring the relevant institutions together and ask whether the intervention actually works.
I have applied that principle when responding to severe student accommodation and funding challenges. At Western TVET College, more than 60 students were displaced. At the Central University of Technology’s Welkom Campus, 1392 students faced accommodation allowance crises and the immediate prospect of eviction. These are not abstract policy debates; they determine whether a student has somewhere safe to sleep and whether they can continue their education.
Safety requires that same ground-level intervention.
We can install cameras, deploy drones, improve street lighting and leverage technology to track risks. These tools matter, but technology alone will never keep a student safe. We need eyes in the sky, but we also need eyes on the ground. We need responsive teams when a risk is identified and clear channels to ensure help reaches the student in time.
Breaking institutional silos
Most importantly, we must stop managing student safety in institutional silos.
A university understands its students. A municipality understands its streets. The South African Police Service understands crime patterns. Accommodation providers understand residences. Private security understands immediate physical surroundings. Student leaders understand the lived reality.
Students themselves know where the risks are. They know which pathways feel unsafe, which residences have broken gates, where harassment occurs and which reporting mechanisms work versus those that exist only on paper. That knowledge is an essential asset.
Students should not be consulted only after decisions are finalised or after a tragedy occurs. They must be active partners in identifying risks, shaping interventions, and assessing results.
This cannot be another empty declaration that disappears after a summit. It must be an operational framework with defined, measurable responsibilities for universities, municipalities, law enforcement, accommodation providers and student leadership, backed by a mechanism for reporting progress publicly. If sector leaders gather again next year, success should not be measured by the speeches made, but by what actually changed on the ground.
This is where the principle of #NoStudentLeftBehind becomes tangible. A student struggling with funding is not just a funding case. A student facing eviction is not just an accommodation case. A student walking through an unsafe neighbourhood is not just a policing case. Students are human beings whose safety and success depend on the whole system working together.
Their lives do not fit into tidy departmental or municipal jurisdictions. While our administrative systems divide their problems into separate buckets, the student experiences them as a single reality. The ultimate test of our work is straightforward:
Is the student safer?
Can a young woman leave her residence for a lecture and return unharmed?
Can a parent in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, the Free State, the North West or the Western Cape send their child to university confident that everything reasonably possible is being done to keep them safe?
For a country navigating a Government of National Unity, this is an area where the politics must remain simple. Different parties bring different philosophies to the table, but when a student leaves home in pursuit of knowledge and opportunity, they should not need to know which party governs which municipality or which agency owns which piece of the problem. They should simply know that the system around them will protect them.
Student safety is not a party-political issue. It is a fundamental test of whether government can put the student at the centre and cross institutional boundaries to deliver.
That is not an ambition; it is the minimum we owe them.
Yusuf Cassim is the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training.
The Gauteng Department of Health has selected 18 young people from disadvantaged communities across the province to study medicine in Cuba through the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro (NMFC) Medical Training Programme.
The latest cohort, comprising 10 males and eight females, was selected from 2,480 applicants following a competitive recruitment process launched in May 2025.
Among those selected is 20-year-old Zezethu Swelindawo from Cosmo City in Johannesburg, who described the opportunity as a life-changing step towards her dream of becoming a doctor.
The candidates were selected from all five Gauteng districts — Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng and the West Rand.
Of the 2,480 applications received, 740 candidates met the qualifying criteria and progressed to the next stage. A further 91 were shortlisted based on their academic performance, socio-economic circumstances and potential contribution to the healthcare sector.
The shortlisted candidates came from households with an annual income of R350,000 or less, with preference given to learners from Quintile 1 to 3 schools.
The final selection followed an assessment process that included home visits, interviews and background evaluations.
The department said academic performance was not the only consideration, with candidates also assessed on their commitment to serving their communities and improving healthcare outcomes in South Africa.
The successful candidates will undertake medical studies in Cuba before returning to South Africa for clinical integration at local universities.
They are expected to join the public healthcare system and contribute to improving access to healthcare, particularly in underserved communities where shortages of medical professionals remain a challenge.
The NMFC programme was established through an agreement between former South African president Nelson Mandela and former Cuban president Fidel Castro to help address the shortage of doctors in South Africa, particularly in rural, underserved and previously disadvantaged communities.
The Cuban medical training model places strong emphasis on primary healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion, which the department said aligns with South Africa’s healthcare priorities.
The Gauteng Department of Health said the programme was helping build a pipeline of medical professionals to strengthen primary healthcare and improve service delivery.
To date, 463 Gauteng students have graduated through the programme and are employed at public healthcare facilities across the province.
The department said the graduates were contributing to patient care and service delivery, while the latest cohort would continue the programme’s focus on addressing socio-economic barriers to medical education and the unequal distribution of healthcare professionals.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in North West has called for urgent action to address learner indiscipline and improve educator safety following an incident in which a learner allegedly insulted and verbally abused a teacher at Batlapaneng Secondary School in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district.
The incident, which occurred on Tuesday, has renewed concerns about what the union described as escalating learner indiscipline, including verbal abuse, threats, intimidation and physical attacks against educators.
SADTU North West said it was deeply concerned by the incident and warned that teachers could not be expected to work effectively in environments where their safety and dignity were compromised.
“An educator cannot be expected to perform their professional responsibilities effectively while being subjected to threats, insults, intimidation or violence,” the union said.
It said educator safety was a fundamental condition for quality teaching and learning and called for decisive action against serious learner misconduct.
“Violence against educators must never be normalised or treated as merely a disciplinary matter,” SADTU said, adding that law enforcement should be involved where conduct amounted to a criminal offence.
The union called on the North West Department of Education and the provincial education MEC to strengthen school safety and learner-discipline measures, including the implementation of clear consequences for serious misconduct.
It also called for immediate intervention when educators are threatened, intimidated or physically attacked, as well as greater support for principals and School Governing Bodies dealing with serious disciplinary cases.
SADTU said schools, parents, the department, the South African Police Service and other stakeholders needed to work more closely to address safety and discipline challenges.
It further called for appropriate psychosocial and professional support for educators who experience violence or trauma in the workplace.
The union wants the department to regularly monitor schools where serious disciplinary and safety problems have been identified.
It also raised concerns about parental responsibility, saying parents and guardians should support reasonable disciplinary measures and should not threaten or intimidate educators.
SADTU called for a comprehensive review of measures to prevent weapons, drugs and other dangerous substances from entering school premises.
The union stressed, however, that stronger discipline should not come at the expense of learners’ rights.
“SADTU does not advocate for the violation of learners’ rights. Learners have rights, but rights come with responsibilities,” it said.
“The protection of learners cannot be interpreted in a manner that leaves educators exposed to abuse, intimidation or violence.”
The union said a balanced approach was needed to protect learners, educators, principals and support staff.
SADTU also linked learner indiscipline to broader challenges in the education system, including overcrowding, social problems, substance abuse, inadequate psychosocial services and mounting pressure on educators.
It said these challenges could not be addressed by teachers alone and required a broader societal response.
Parents, it said, had an important role in reinforcing respect, responsibility and acceptable behaviour among learners.
At the same time, SADTU said educators must uphold professional standards and exercise their authority responsibly.
The union said it remained committed to protecting educators while advocating for a public education system that was safe, disciplined and conducive to teaching and learning.
“Teaching cannot be an attractive and respected profession when educators are expected to work in unsafe environments,” SADTU said.
“An attack on an educator is not only an attack on an individual, it is an attack on the teaching profession and the right of every learner to quality education.”
SADTU North West called on the provincial Department of Education to move beyond statements of concern and implement concrete measures to address learner indiscipline and school safety.
“The time has come to move beyond statements of concern towards concrete interventions that restore discipline, protect educators and reclaim schools as safe spaces for teaching and learning,” the union said.
The North West Department of Education is again considering reviving the Adopt-a-Cop programme after three schools were damaged by fires within two weeks.
“The MEC is planning an urgent engagement with the Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service to discuss strengthened collaboration and interventions aimed at improving the safety and security of schools across the province,” department spokesperson Mercy Mokgatle told Inside Education.
She said among the potential interventions could be the “resuscitation and strengthening” of programmes such as Adopt-a-Cop.
The province has previously used Adopt-a-Cop to link police officers with schools. Talks about reviving it have been ongoing since 2019.
“The department is taking the matter seriously and is intensifying its efforts to strengthen the protection of school infrastructure,” she said.
Although several community members have said they believe the fires could be the result of arson, Mokgatle said the circumstances were still under investigation.
The latest fire took place at Phakisang Primary School in Ottoshoop, near Mahikeng, on Saturday.
The department said a general assistant at the school received a call that afternoon informing him that the school was on fire.
When he arrived, books stored in one of the mobile classrooms were burning.
“In addition, a tyre and plastic hosepipes were found burning underneath two other mobile classrooms,” the department said.
“The South African Police Service and the Fire Department were immediately called to the scene. The fire was extinguished before it could spread and cause extensive damage to the school infrastructure.”
The fire damaged the classroom floor, learners’ workbooks, educators’ files and other documents, as well as the classroom chalkboard.
It followed two school fires in the Bojanala District.
Provincial education MEC Sebonta Francinah Desbo Mohono said the number of fires in such a short period was “unacceptable”.
“Last week, two schools were burnt in the Bojanala District, severely affecting the Department’s infrastructure and its ability to provide conducive learning environments,” Mohono said.
“Schools are public properties. They belong to the communities in which they are situated, and communities must take pride in protecting and preserving their schools. We cannot allow the destruction of public infrastructure that is intended to serve our children and communities.”
Mohono said the fires took place at a critical stage of the academic year, when learners were revising and Grade 12 pupils were writing trial exams.
She said the circumstances surrounding the Phakisang Primary School fire had raised “concerns” that it may have been deliberately started.
“If confirmed, such acts are aimed at derailing the Department from achieving its objective of ensuring that learners are provided with a safe, secure and conducive environment in which to learn and succeed,” she said.
But she stressed that investigations into the incidents were continuing and that the department could not yet determine whether the three fires were connected or deliberately started.
“The matters have been reported to the relevant authorities, and investigations are underway,” Mokgatle said.
“We will await the outcome of these investigations before drawing any conclusions regarding possible links between the incidents.”
“Any information regarding whether the fires were deliberately started, as well as possible suspects or persons of interest, will be communicated by the relevant investigating authorities when it is appropriate to do so,” she said.
She said the department also plans to review security arrangements and access controls at affected and vulnerable schools.
“Security challenges differ from one school and community to another, and interventions will therefore need to take into account the specific circumstances and needs of individual schools.”
Mohono is expected to embark on a stakeholder outreach programme next week to mobilise communities and other partners to help protect schools.
“The Department is particularly calling on communities to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity around school premises to the police and relevant authorities,” Mokgatle said.
Nearly 10,000 university-owned residence beds are unavailable because renovations remain outstanding, as South Africa struggles to provide enough affordable accommodation for students.
Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela said preliminary departmental information showed 9,907 university-owned beds were currently unavailable.
Speaking at Parliament’s student accommodation colloquium in Cape Town, Manamela said the shortage of beds was compounded by slow infrastructure delivery, maintenance backlogs and weaknesses in the system used to place and fund students.
“A bursary without a bed is access on paper. A bed without safety is shelter without dignity. And an accommodation system without accountability can become a subsidy for failure, exploitation and corruption,” Manamela said.
A Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) survey conducted in March found that TVET colleges had only 9,968 institution-owned beds, while 39% of the residences that responded were assessed as being in poor condition.
“A bed under construction is not yet a bed for a student. A bed standing empty because a bathroom, roof, bulk connection or procurement process has failed is also not a bed for a student,” Manamela said.
He said infrastructure projects were being delayed during feasibility studies, procurement, contracting and construction, as well as by problems connecting developments to bulk municipal services.
Maintenance was also being deferred until entire residence blocks became unusable.
“The problem is not only that we need more money. We also need better planning, stronger project-management capability and consequences for persistent non-delivery,” Manamela said.
Manamela said he has demanded a project-by-project recovery plan for the 9,907 unavailable beds, detailing the institution responsible, the bottleneck affecting the project, a revised completion date and what intervention is required.
The plan must also be considered alongside the government’s funded construction pipeline.
DHET and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) have also been given 60 days to produce a reconciled national picture of student accommodation.
The assessment must identify available, occupied, empty, unserviceable and planned beds, as well as accommodation rates, accreditation status and major safety and delivery risks.
Within the same period, DHET and NSFAS must present Manamela with options for a differentiated student accommodation pricing framework for 2027 and proposals for a new model dividing responsibilities between the department, NSFAS, institutions and accommodation providers.
Manamela said the current system had produced problems despite attempts to regulate the student accommodation market.
A single accommodation funding ceiling had helped restrain prices, but could have unintended consequences, particularly because the cost of student housing differs significantly between locations, he said.
In expensive urban areas, the difference between the funding ceiling and actual accommodation costs could be shifted to students or institutional debt, while elsewhere the maximum allowance could effectively become the market price, encouraging providers that previously charged less to increase their rates.
Manamela said a future framework should instead consider factors including location, accommodation grade, room type, utilities, security, internet connectivity, transport and operating costs.
He also raised concerns about fragmented accommodation records.
Universities, NSFAS, accommodation providers and students could hold different information about registrations, placements, occupation dates, leases and payments, creating a risk that legitimate providers were not paid, students faced eviction or public money was spent on empty accommodation.
“Every rand paid for a ghost bed is stolen twice: once from the public purse and once from the student who needed a real bed,” Manamela said.
Manamela said a ministerial review appointed in 2010 and reported in 2011 found universities had 107,598 residence beds, enough for only about one in five full-time contact students at the time.
The estimated shortage was already 195,815 beds, while maintenance, refurbishment and modernisation requirements exceeded R4 billion in 2010 prices.
Government has since expanded student housing through infrastructure grants and the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme.
Manamela said 9,721 beds had been completed under the first phase of that programme by March 2025, with further projects under construction or in preparation.
But he said increasing the number of new beds would have to go hand in hand with recovering existing university accommodation that had fallen out of use.
The TVET residence condition assessment would similarly have to be converted into a funded repair and development programme rather than simply remain a survey, he said.
He said he intended to report back to Parliament before the end of November on the national accommodation baseline, the proposed 2027 model, the accommodation funding cap review and progress in recovering unusable beds.
“Parliament should be able to measure us against decisions, owners and dates – not merely against another statement of intention,” he said.
South African universities collect vast amounts of information about student performance, attendance, engagement and progression. Yet too often, that information tells institutions what has already happened rather than helping them influence what happens next.
The aim is to use existing data to identify emerging academic risks earlier and connect students with the right support before difficulties become entrenched.
In practical terms, data-informed decision-making requires institutions to establish where each student is in their academic journey, where they need to be, and what intervention is most likely to close the gap.
A shared understanding of these questions gives lecturers, academic leaders and student-support teams a common view of student progress. It also establishes a clear path from evidence to action: identify the risk, determine the appropriate support, intervene, and assess whether the response was effective.
With student retention and completion continuing to place pressure on the higher education sector, the ability to recognise warning signs early is increasingly important.
Historically, institutions have relied heavily on retrospective reporting, analysing academic performance after results have been released. While this helps explain what happened, it offers limited opportunity to change the outcome for a student.
Bringing together current attendance, engagement and assessment data can provide a much earlier picture. Missed classes, declining engagement or weaker assessment performance, for instance, may signal that a student requires additional support.
We have moved beyond using data for compliance or historical reporting purposes. It should be informing how institutions support students while there is still an opportunity to make a difference.
For students and their families, the stakes are significant. Higher education represents a substantial personal and financial investment, making timely support critical when academic difficulties emerge.
When lecturers, academic leaders and student-support teams share a common picture of student progress, decisions stop being guesswork. Students who need support can be identified earlier, resources can be directed where they are most needed and the effectiveness of interventions can be measured.
But identifying risk is only useful if the insight reaches those who can act on it. Academic information needs to be consolidated and made available to deans, lecturers and student-support teams during the relevant semester, rather than remaining in central reports reviewed after the fact.
The value extends beyond individual interventions. Patterns in performance, progression and graduate outcomes can also reveal where programmes and institutions themselves need to improve. These insights can inform curriculum design, teaching development, quality assurance and the alignment of qualifications with evolving workplace needs.
As higher education evolves, institutions need to learn about their own practice as rigorously as they teach.
Data, used well, allows an institution to listen to itself. The advantage is not in having more information, but in recognising what it is telling you and acting early enough to improve outcomes.
Taryn Migatchev is Head of Academic Insights and Reporting at The IIE and Advtech’s Academic Centre of Excellence.
South Africa needs about R120 billion for additional classrooms and sanitation facilities to meet current demand in public schools, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said on Monday, as growing learner numbers and fiscal constraints deepen pressure.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube highlighted the scale of the infrastructure challenge at the launch of the new LEAP 9 Maths and Science School in Kariega, Eastern Cape, where she welcomed Volkswagen South Africa’s investment in the project.
Gwarube described the school as an example of how government and business could work together to expand educational opportunities.
“Government has the primary responsibility for providing quality public education, but the scale of our infrastructure requirements demands that we mobilise every available resource. Responsible private sector partnerships can help us accelerate investment in the environments in which our children learn,” Gwarube said.
The DBE estimates that approximately R120 billion is required for additional classrooms and sanitation facilities to meet current demand across the public education system. Growing learner numbers and a constrained fiscal environment are compounding the challenge.
Gwarube thanked Volkswagen South Africa for its contribution, saying the investment was particularly significant in a province with a major automotive and manufacturing sector.
She said the LEAP 9 Maths and Science School aligns with the department’s Strong Foundations, Strong Futures strategy, which seeks to improve foundational literacy and numeracy while strengthening the pipeline into mathematics, science, technology and other gateway subjects.
“That eight out of 10 children cannot read for meaning by the age of 10 should concern every South African. We must strengthen the foundations of learning if we want young South Africans to succeed in STEM fields and participate meaningfully in our economy,” she said.
Gwarube said Volkswagen’s “Cradle to Career” approach reflected the importance of sustained investment in human capital.
“The learners at LEAP 9 are future engineers, scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs and skilled professionals. Some may one day contribute to the very industries that drive the Eastern Cape economy. Investing in their education is an investment in the province’s future.”
She called on more businesses to partner with government to expand access to quality infrastructure, strengthen mathematics and science education, and expose learners to career opportunities.
“The Eastern Cape has enormous human potential. We must ensure that geography or circumstances of birth never place a ceiling on a young person’s ambition,” she said.
Speaking at the launch, Volkswagen Group Africa Chairperson and Managing Director Martina Biene reflected on the company’s 75-year journey in South Africa and its investment in communities around its Kariega operations.
Biene described Volkswagen as deeply rooted in the communities where it operates, saying the company sought to respond to community needs and invest in empowering people.
She highlighted LEAP 9 as another example of Volkswagen’s commitment to education and expanding opportunities for young people in KwaNobuhle.
The LEAP 9 project has transformed the former Mlungisi Perfector School into a Maths and Science primary and high school in KwaNobuhle.
“We put our money where our mouth is, but also our hands and our hearts,” Biene said.
Gauteng has launched its 41st School of Specialisation, expanding vocational and occupational training for learners as the province says it seeks to better align education with labour-market demand and scarce skills.
Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC Lebogang Maile officially launched the Olympia Park Vocational and Occupational School of Specialisation in Springs, saying the school would provide learners with practical skills, recognised qualifications and workplace experience.
Olympia Park, which has 764 learners and 61 teachers, offers vocational training ranging from motor mechanics, plumbing and welding to agriculture, food production, sewing, hairdressing and beauty.
The school also has 22 workshops and allows learners to leave with between four and six additional Sector Education and Training Authority-accredited courses.
“Olympia Park represents what we want to achieve through an education system that recognises the different abilities, talents and aspirations of our learners. We are not simply launching a school; we are opening doors to opportunity, dignity, skills development and economic participation.
“Vocational and occupational education must provide a credible pathway through which young people can acquire skills, gain recognised qualifications, enter the workplace, continue their studies or become entrepreneurs,” Maile said.
The Schools of Specialisation Programme was conceptualised in 2014 and has developed into one of the Gauteng Department of Education’s flagship initiatives.
The schools are intended to respond to the skills needs of Gauteng and South Africa by developing specialised talent and addressing scarce and critical skills requirements.
The programme also forms part of Gauteng’s Transformation, Modernisation and Reindustrialisation strategy, with the location and curriculum focus of the schools linked to the economic strengths and development priorities of the province’s economic corridors.
Olympia Park falls within Gauteng’s Eastern Economic Corridor in the City of Ekurhuleni, which is focused on manufacturing, transport, logistics and aeronautics.
School dates back to 1958
Olympia Park was established in January 1958 as a flagship Learners with Special Education Needs school serving learners with mild intellectual sisabilities and has a long history of supporting learners from underserved communities.
Its premises are situated on Transnet grounds that were historically used for the training of Transnet learnerships.
Since 2019, the school has revised its vision and mission, changed its anthem and uniform, upgraded sporting facilities and shifted to a stronger focus on vocational and occupational skills development, the department said.
Olympia Park has also been incorporated into the National School Nutrition Programme, which feeds up to 80% of its learners each day.
GDE scholar transport provides transport for 672 learners, including children travelling from as far as Spaarwater and Vosloorus.
The school has implemented the Endorsed National Senior Certificate and Technical Occupational Curriculum and has developed new workbooks and textbooks for Technical Occupational Curriculum subjects.
It also offers SETA-accredited short courses aimed at strengthening learners’ employment prospects.
“Inclusion cannot end with giving a learner a place in a classroom. It must mean giving that learner the education, practical skills, support and qualifications necessary to participate meaningfully in society and the economy.
“Our objective is to develop learners who leave school with practical abilities, theoretical knowledge, confidence, discipline and a positive attitude towards work,” Maile added.
Matric pass rate reaches 100%
Olympia Park currently has 764 learners, supported by 61 teachers and 15 general assistants, administrative and specialised staff.
The school’s matric pass rate increased from 83% in 2022 to 91.6% in 2023 before reaching 100% in both 2024 and 2025.
The department said the results showed that practical skills development and academic achievement could be pursued together.
The school’s 22 workshops comprise four Motor Mechanics workshops, three Plumbing workshops, three Welding and Sheet Metal workshops, five Agriculture Studies workshops, two Food Production workshops and two Sewing workshops.
It also has dedicated facilities for consumer studies, hairdressing, and nail and beauty training.
Other infrastructure includes an agricultural tunnel, hydroponics facilities, a medical centre, school hall, nutrition centre and feeding programme.
Its sporting facilities include three netball courts, a soccer and rugby field, two cricket nets, an athletics track and two long-jump pits.
Learners are also exposed to aquaculture, butchery, tractor and forklift operation, motorised bicycles and scaffolding alongside the school’s core occupational programmes.
Skills mismatch
The launch comes as South Africa continues to struggle with a mismatch between education and the skills required in the labour market.
According to the department, about 30.3% of workers are employed in occupations that do not match the field of their highest educational qualification.
The 2024 National List of Occupations in High Demand identifies 350 occupations in which employers are likely to recruit over the medium term.
Occupations aligned with skills developed at Olympia Park include automotive motor mechanics, plumbers, welders, hairdressers and nail technicians.
“We cannot separate the future of education from the future of our economy. Our schools must equip learners with skills that have practical value beyond the school gates.
“A learner who develops expertise in motor mechanics, welding, plumbing, agriculture, food production, sewing, hairdressing or beauty must be able to see a pathway from that skill towards further training, employment or entrepreneurship,” Maile said.
SETA-accredited qualifications
Learners at Olympia Park can leave the school having completed between four and six additional SETA-accredited courses.
These include Fire Fighting, Working at Heights, Fall Arrest, Scaffold Erection, General Health and Safety, Power Tool Safety, Office Administration, Piggery and Mixed Farming.
The school enrolled its first fully SETA-accredited learner cohort in 2026.
The department said the approach was intended to ensure learners left school with recognised competencies that could improve their chances of gaining access to further training or employment.
The school has also developed partnerships with companies and training institutions to bring workplace experience and skills into its programmes.
Cable Feeder Systems provides financial support, donates training equipment, assists financially with social worker support and provides learners with training opportunities in various fields.
HyGro Training College supports AgriSETA mixed-farming training for Year 4 learners, while Data Matrix provides SETA-accredited courses.
Springs Used Motor Parts donates vehicle components to the Motor Mechanics Department and Stark Ayers Seeds provides seeds for Agriculture Studies.
The Courier Guy supports sporting attire and equipment, Nirvana Business Solutions provides SETA courses, Bakeology Studio provides baking courses for Consumer Studies and Food Production learners, and Young Nails provides courses for Nail and Beauty learners.
Other partners provide apprenticeships and learnerships, workshop equipment, learning material, tractor and forklift licences, agricultural training and support for the school’s mechanical workshop.
Aviation training opportunity
Olympia Park is also expanding into aviation-related technical exposure in line with Ekurhuleni’s position within Gauteng’s Eastern Economic Corridor and its focus on transport and aeronautics.
An aircraft tail has been delivered separately to the school and is due to be assembled.
The school will begin assembling the tail this weekend. Doors that were removed to make transportation easier will be reinstalled during the assembly process, while four blades will be mounted at the end.
An Aviation Maintenance Engineer from Denel has also made contact with the school to provide support and expose learners to aviation-related technical knowledge.
“This is precisely the type of exposure we want our learners to receive. When learners can interact with artisans, engineers, technicians and industry professionals, they begin to understand how the skills acquired at school translate into real occupations and economic opportunities,” Maile said.
