The full version of the action plan is intended for managers responsible for implementation, and people responsible for monitoring the success of implementation. It highlights the 27 goals of the action plans and specific delineations. The plan is South Africa’s foremost comprehensive long-term sector plan for schools; and it guides the ten education departments dealing with basic education (the national Department of Basic Education and the nine provincial departments).

The full version of the action plan is directed at a broad range of stakeholders for the education sector, ranging from parents, teachers, school principals, and officials at the district, to foreign investors looking to invest in the development of the sector. It highlights the 27 goals of the action plans and specific delineations. The plan provides continuity, as it follows from the basic structure of the 2011 action. It guides the ten education departments dealing with basic education (the national Department of Basic Education and the nine provincial departments).

An abridged version of the delivery agreement for outcome 1; and improved quality of basic education.

The strategic policy framework on disability for the post-school education and training (PSET) system intends to create an inclusive PSET system for people with disabilities, guide PSET institutions in the creation of an enabling environment for people with disabilities, and provide the department of higher education and training with a monitoring and evaluation instrument to ensure that disability compliance is mainstreamed in all PSET institutions.

The curriculum assessment policy statement outlining the guidelines for responding to learner diversity in the classroom. The guidelines are intended to provide teachers, principals, subject advisors, administrators, school governors and other personnel, parameters and strategies on how to respond to learner diversity in the classrooms through the curriculum. They are intended for school based teacher development by the Institution level support teams and district based support teams.

The strategic plan of the department of higher education and training (DHET) follows from the second national priority of the national development plan (NDP); education, skills, and health. It charts the course of the DHET for the five years under covered by the plan. The focus of the DHET is on the development of the post-school education and training (PSET) system.

The strategic plan outlines the building blocks necessary to ensure a strong foundation for the educational system. It strives to ensure that the skills needed to drive South Africa’s economic growth and social development are delivered at an increasing rate for both young people and adults.

The third skills development strategy is subsequent on the integration of programmes to create the department of higher education and training. It hopes to promote partnerships between employers, public education institutions, private training providers, and sector education and training authorities. The strategy seeks to prioritise solidifying the relationship among specified stakeholders.

The strategic plan aims to improve access to learning while combating the dual challenge of equity and development. It strives to ensure that the skills needed to drive South Africa’s economic growth and social development are delivered at an increasing rate for both young people and adults.

The policy emphasises the important role of parents and primary caregivers in providing care, support and upbringing of their children. The national policy focuses on providing comprehensive, universally available and equitable early childhood development services. The Policy covers the period from conception until the year before children enter formal school or, in the case of children with developmental difficulties and disabilities, until the year before the calendar year they turn seven (7), which marks the age of compulsory schooling or special education.

The Strategy forms part of the implementation of education white paper 6 – Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. The strategy allows children facing educational barriers to exercise their basic education rights, and access to support services. It introduces new roles, and responsibilities for the
education support system in the country: the district-based support teams, special school resource centres, full-service schools, and the institution-level support teams.

This represents the first distinct and independent strategic plan of the Department of Basic Education. The strategic plan sets out the three-year objectives and activities of the department, with emphasis on implementation and performance monitoring of the basic education system. The key objectives include; streamlining of the curriculum; development of strategies on the assessment of learners; recognition of the critical role played by teachers in delivering quality teaching and learning, and the role played by principals in management of schools; distribution of learning materials; and promotion of e-education strategies.

The 2007-2011 strategic plan represents the department of education’s reaffirmation and commitment towards the transformation of the education system in South Africa. The 4-year plan focuses on improving support to schools, educators, and district offices. The strategic plan is anchored to the broad priorities of the department: dealing with poverty, skills development, quality improvement, health and education, and institutional development.

The statement of policy and commitment by the department of education. The statement highlights the achievement in the education sector, as the country celebrates its first decade of freedom. The department pushes to build on the achievements; it seeks to enhance the professional status of teaching, and address infrastructural inadequacies in the education sector.

The amendment operates under the South African Schools Act of 2006. It sets out the national norms and standards for school funding, it deals with the procedures to be adopted by Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) in determining resource allocations to schools, and it replaces all previous school funding norms issued in terms of sections of the South African Schools Act. The norms and standards deal with the public funding of public schools, the exemption of parents who are unable to pay school fees, and public subsidies to independent schools. They apply uniformly in all provinces.

The Strategy forms part of the implementation of education white paper 6 – Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. The strategy allows children facing educational barriers to exercise their basic education rights, and access to support services. It introduces new roles, and responsibilities for the
education support system in the country: the district-based support teams, special school resource centers, full-service schools, and the institution-level support teams.

The equitable policy sets out to address the persisting inequality challenges and inadequacies in allocation and access to basic school infrastructure services; laboratories, computers, and classrooms. The policy seeks to fill the gap of the lack of specific national and provincial policies. It serves as a framework to guide the development of physical teaching and learning environment.

The national reading strategy has the vision to ensure every South African learner becomes a fluent reader who reads to learn and reads for enjoyment and enrichment. It underpins South Africa’s participation in United Nations development campaigns, including; the UNESCO Literacy Decade 2003-2013, and the Education for All (EFA) campaign, which aims to increase literacy rates by 50% by the year 2015.

The government is using the period covered by the strategic and operational plans to collaborate with provincial governments, NGOs, and social and private partners, to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of education, so as to ensure that all elements of the system are subjected to rigorous scrutiny. The goals and objectives contained are anchored on the overarching goal of the department: to ensure quality education for all.

The guidelines are premised on the sixth white paper on Special Needs Education Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. They serve as steps towards making all ordinary schools, full-service/inclusive schools. The guidelines contain criteria for schools, districts, and provinces, to measure progress towards inclusion; incentives are also offered, as a form of rewarding excellence.