The Eastern Cape has always understood the relationship between education and opportunity. For generations, families across this province have understood that a good education can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. It can open the door to university, to a profession, to entrepreneurship, to skilled work and to a life with greater possibilities than the one that came before.
That is why I am pleased to join the launch of the Volkswagen South Africa LEAP 9 Maths and Science School in Kariega on Monday 31 August 2026.
The launch reflects what can happen when government, business and communities commit themselves to a common purpose: giving young people the education they need to participate meaningfully in South Africa’s future. As the Department of Basic Education, we know the scale of the work ahead.
South Africa requires an estimated R120 billion for the additional classrooms and sanitation facilities needed to meet existing demand, while learner numbers continue to grow. Government carries the primary responsibility for quality public education, but our constrained fiscal position limits how quickly every infrastructure need can be addressed. Responsible private sector partnerships therefore matter.
This is where responsible partnerships with the private sector become important.
Volkswagen South Africa has demonstrated what such a partnership can achieve through its investment in LEAP 9. The company’s investment is particularly meaningful in a province whose economy has such a strong connection to manufacturing and the automotive sector.
Nelson Mandela Bay is home to an important part of South Africa’s automotive industry. Thousands of people depend directly and indirectly on this sector for their livelihoods. Its future depends on a pipeline of young South Africans with the mathematics, science, technical and problem-solving skills required by a modern economy.
The learners entering LEAP 9 are part of that future. Some may become engineers. Others may become scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs, artisans or researchers. Some may create businesses that employ hundreds of people. And perhaps one day, some of these learners will design and build the next generation of vehicles produced in the Eastern Cape.
This is why investment in education is also an investment in economic development.
It is a principle that should guide how we think about partnerships between business and government. Companies benefit from strong economies, functioning communities and skilled people. Communities benefit when businesses contribute to the development of those communities. Government benefits when these investments help us expand opportunity and improve outcomes for our children.
At the Department of Basic Education, we are pursuing the same long-term objective through our strategy of Strong Foundations, Strong Futures.
When I assumed office in 2024, the scale of South Africa’s learning crisis was stark. Too many children reach the end of the Foundation Phase without the literacy and numeracy skills they need to progress successfully through school.
The finding that eight out of ten children cannot read for meaning by the age of ten should concern every South African.
A child who struggles to read and understand a text is likely to face difficulties across the curriculum. Weak numeracy creates similar barriers. These foundational skills influence whether learners can confidently take mathematics, science and other gateway subjects later in their schooling.
That is why strengthening the foundations of learning is at the centre of our reform agenda.
LEAP 9 shows what is possible when government, business and communities invest together in young people. There are many more schools across the Eastern Cape that need investment. Government will continue to do its part, and we need more partners willing to do theirs. The greatest investment we can make in the Eastern Cape’s future is in its children.
Siviwe Gwarube, minister of basic education
