Education
With reference to robotics education at public schools in the province:
(a) How many public schools currently offer robotics and coding as part of their curriculum or extracurricular activities, (b) how many learners participated in robotics and coding programmes during the 2025 academic year, (c) what support does his Department provide to schools for the implementation of robotics and coding programmes, (d) how many educators have received training in robotics and coding during the past two academic years, (e) what resources have been provided to schools to support robotics and coding education and (f) what are the details of plans to expand robotics and coding programmes to additional schools?
My department has informed me of the following:
(a) Coding and Robotics was gazetted as an official Grade R–9 subject in June 2024. In the Western Cape, the subject is currently being implemented through a structured pilot model across 238 confirmed pilot schools. The subject is not compulsory for all public schools.
(b) The confirmed learner event for 2025 was the EdenX Future Ready Festival: 594 learner participants, comprising 324 competition learners and 270 career expo participants.
The Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) partner, Tangible Africa, further reports 34,706 learners impacted through 518 unplugged coding intervention sessions across the province in 2025.
In 2026, learner engagement continues through multiple activations. Named event records account for at least 644 learners across Growth4Jobs, TechX, Old Mutual/FLL and ECKED/Inkcubeko events. The Cape Town Science Centre (CTSC) reached a further 280 learners through Code on the Road micro:bit workshops and over 1 200 through
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hackathons, expos and STEM bootcamps. Tangible Africa reports that 10 361 learners were reached through school workshops in 2026.
(c) Support to pilot schools is provided through curriculum guidance, teacher professional development, professional learning communities (PLCs), monitoring and evaluation visits, resource provision and partner collaborations.
• School visits: In 2025, 29 pilot schools were visited across all eight education districts between February and October for support and monitoring purposes, including 12 STEAMAC hub schools.
• Professional learning communities (PLC): Ten PLC sessions were held in 2025, seven online and three onsite, with 18 schools participating.
• Implementation approach: Province-wide Monitoring and Evaluation visits in 2025 and district reports in 2026 confirm that pilot schools are using a range of implementation models, including timetabled delivery, grade-specific scheduling, after-school clubs and unplugged activities. The WCED deliberately accommodates all models. Coding and Robotics is a non-funded subject in pilot phase, and the priority is building capacity and momentum across the system. Schools are supported to engage, experiment and grow at a pace appropriate to their context.
• Partner support: The WCED collaborates with partners to extend its reach and impact across all 238 pilot schools. Partners include the CTSC, Tangible Africa, Sakhikamva Foundation and Growth4Jobs. Foundation Phase implementation is further supported through online lesson-mediation sessions and national lesson-writing initiatives led by Mathilda Zeeman.
• Planned Monitoring and Evaluation support (2026): The 2026 operational plan includes 35 monitoring and evaluation school-visit days across all four terms.
(d) Teacher training during the past two academic years:
• Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI) (2025-2026):
128 teachers attended and qualified in Coding and Robotics in 2025; 110 teachers in 2026.
• Foundation Phase online lesson mediation (2026):
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Two online lesson-mediation sessions reached 643 attendees across all eight districts.
• CTSC teacher training (2026): 124 teachers
• UNICEF / WCED ThinkShift conference (2026): 87 teachers attended the three-day Coding, Robotics and AI Literacy conference.
• Partner training (2025): Sakhikamva Foundation trained 24 teachers through its competition pathways. Tangible Africa delivered 11 unplugged coding training sessions reaching 319 teachers.
• Additional training (2025-2026): 40 teachers attached to the Department of Social Development completed a five-day CAPS training in December 2025. 340 Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) student teachers participated in Foundation Phase Coding and Robotics programmes in 2025, with a further 120 third-year students engaged in May/June 2026.
• Upcoming training: Grade 4 CAPS Coding and Robotics training is planned at CTLI with 55 teachers registered from 46 schools.
(e) Curriculum and lesson materials:
Grade 4 CAPS materials, ATP/progression tables, Scratch and micro:bit resources, and Foundation Phase lesson plans for Grades R–3 have been developed and distributed. A nine-day national lesson-writing session produced 160 Grade R–3 lessons, completed by officials from nine provinces.
Maths, Science and Technology (MST) Conditional Grant — hardware (2025):
The MST Conditional Grant allocated R1 989 794 for Coding and Robotics resources across 19 pilot schools (R104 726 per school). Each school's planned resource package included 72 micro:bit kits and 40 ELECFREAKS micro:bit Tinker Kits.
Other resources:
The CTSC provided micro:bit resources through Code on the Road workshops. Growth4Jobs supplied drone kits for learner workshops. UNICEF/Springbots materials supported additional pilot schools.
(f) Learner events (2026 planned):
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• George learner competition: approximately 80 learners/20 teams, 12 September 2026
• EdenX Future Ready Festival, FLL/Old Mutual and WRO competitions
• Two Growth4Jobs drone events targeting rural and metro schools (2026–2027)
• MST bootcamps and additional CTSC learner activations
Partner collaborations with CTSC, Tangible Africa, Sakhikamva Foundation and Growth4Jobs extend the Department's reach across the pilot footprint, particularly important for a non-funded subject that relies on collaborative resourcing to scale.
