By Charmaine Ndlela

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday that Grade R will be made compulsory as part of efforts to strengthen early childhood development.

He said the Department of Basic Education is expanding access to early childhood development (ECD) through the Bana Pele mass registration of ECD facilities and increased subsidies for ECD learners.

“By making Grade R compulsory, we are getting all children off to a good start. We are intensifying efforts to fix the basic education system, with a focus on early learning, literacy and numeracy, and mother-tongue-based bilingual education,” Ramaphosa said.

The President also congratulated the Class of 2025 for achieving an 88% matric pass rate — the highest in the country’s history.

He said the result reflects both the commitment of learners and government interventions aimed at improving learning and teaching.

“Last year we saw the highest matric pass rate, with more than two-thirds of all bachelor passes coming from schools in the most disadvantaged communities,” he said.

Ramaphosa applauded the Class of 2025 for the sacrifices that contributed to their achievement.

However, he raised concern about the high dropout rate in the final years of schooling, saying more learners must be supported to write matric and take gateway subjects such as mathematics and science.

Nationally, the percentage of matric learners taking mathematics has declined from 46% in 2011 to 34% in 2023. In 2024, the number of learners registered for mathematics dropped to 255,762 — down by more than 12,000 from the previous year.

“To absorb the increasing number of young people passing matric, we will expand opportunities for young people to enter institutions of higher learning,” he said.

INSIDE EDUCATION