The year 2024 presented the organisation the opportunity to set in motion, the reconfigured strategy with a focus on consolidating systemic education improvement. A key focus area was the reframing of the role of education districts in education improvement. There exists a wide misconception in discourse where districts are merely viewed as administrative instruments which are educationally inconsequential.
I reflected on the role of districts by drawing on lessons from the NECT in a paper titled “A case for Education Districts in Continuing Education Improvement”. The paper argues that ‘effective, meaningful, and sustainable delivery of education by schools will be achieved if districts are centrally involved in all aspects education processes’. The paper further delves into the roles of districts and why they should be bought to the centre of education improvement.
Through the implementation of the Integrated District Improvement Programme (IDIP) in four provinces the NECT sought to enhance district capabilities for effective operational planning, monitoring and feedback mechanisms to implement initiatives that improve school functionality.
Furthermore, to reflect on the 30 years of progress made in implementing the education reform agenda, the NECT hosted two policy dialogues in March and April on Education Districts and Improving Teacher and Learner Wellbeing respectively. The dialogues attracted various interest groups across teacher unions, student organisations, civil society groups, business and the government with a view to build consensus around education improvement, policies and strategies.