The education department in Pretoria is the national Department of Basic Education, and its contacts are below. Before you call, check that you actually want the national department, because most of what people phone about is handled by a provincial department rather than by this office.
Official contact channels
- Call centre and hotline: 0800 202 933
- Call centre email: [email protected]
- Switchboard: 012 357 3000
- Certification, for matric certificates and replacements: 012 357 4511 or [email protected]
- Fax: 012 323 6260 or 012 323 6260/0601
Services and responsibilities
The Department of Basic Education sets national policy, curriculum and assessment. It publishes the curriculum assessment policy statements, past examination papers, Mind the Gap study guides, the schools masterlist data, national circulars and matric results information, and it runs certification. Certification is the function most worth knowing about, because replacing or verifying a matric certificate is a national responsibility handled by this department directly, on its own number and mailbox, rather than by a province or a school.
Office and address information
The national office is Sol Plaatje House, 222 Struben Street, Pretoria, 0001. The department also publishes a directory of provincial offices and a list of provincial departments of education on its site. Note that the same building serves the national department only: a provincial education department has its own separate offices, even where those offices are also in Pretoria.
Applications and escalation
Here is the routing that matters. Schools are run by provincial education departments, so school admissions and learner placement, school fees and exemptions, teacher appointments and transfers, school transport, scholar nutrition and complaints about an individual school are provincial matters. If you are in Pretoria, that means the Gauteng Department of Education, not the national office, and phoning the national call centre about a placement will only get you redirected. Use the national department for curriculum, national examinations policy and certification. If a provincial department fails to act on a complaint, the Public Protector investigates maladministration by organs of state, and the South African Human Rights Commission takes complaints where a right such as access to basic education is at stake. For misconduct by a teacher, the South African Council for Educators is the professional body that registers and disciplines educators.
Sources
- Department of Basic Education contact page with the hotline, switchboard, fax and Pretoria address: education.gov.za/Contactus.aspx
- Department of Basic Education call centre and certification contacts published in the site footer: education.gov.za