education policylatest news & developments
Legislative reform: Minister Buti Manamela has his eye on modernising higher education law, which he says has barely shifted since the late 1990s. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Engineering the next 50 years

Inside Minister Manamela’s high-stakes plan to rewrite the rules of higher education

  • Eyaaz
5 min read
Concerned: As top students celebrated their matric results this week, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, below, highlighted structural challenges facing the system. Photo: Department of Basic Education

Stagnating matric maths pass rate a sobering reality

The declining rate reflects deep-rooted challenges that begin in the early school grades

  • Eyaaz
8 min read
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announces the 2025 matric results. Photo: Department of Basic Education X account

KwaZulu-Natal tops 2025 matric results with 90.6% pass rate

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said the notion that 30% constituted a pass mark was political sloganism

  • Stella Mapenzauswa
4 min read
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme received a record 893 487 applications for the 2026 academic year

NSFAS receives nearly 900 000 applications, with women making up 66%

The student financial aid scheme said its appeals process would be open until 14 January

  • Eyaaz
3 min read
Children learn through play at the Little Red Dragon preschool, run by the Lebone Centre in Makhanda. Play helps children ‘read’ their world and tell their stories, a vital step in their literacy development. Photos: Debbie Smuts

Preschoolers falling through the cracks

SA spends just 1.8% of its education budget on ECD: the damage shows

  • Eyaaz
8 min read
South Africa’s push for a permanent Y20 council met strong resistance, exposing divisions on climate, gender and technology and leaving the forum without a final communiqué

G20’s youth forum split over wording and accountability structure

For the first time in 14 years, the G20 youth engagement group (Y20) closed its summit last week without issuing a communiqué — the set of recommendations that usually feeds into a declaration by world leaders at their annual summit, this year being hosted in Johannesburg in November. In June, the Y20 submitted a communique […]

  • Eyaaz
5 min read
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi. (File photo)

Lesufi on Bela Act: Friday the 13th ‘liberation day’ for education

The Gauteng premier has called for the full Implementation of Bela Act despite threats of a court challenge by the Democratic Alliance and the Solidarity union

  • Eyaaz
3 min read