Department of Education Pretoria Contact Details

The Department of Basic Education’s national office in Pretoria is 012 357 3000, with a toll-free hotline on 0800 202 933 and callcentre@dbe.gov.za. It is at Sol Plaatje House, 222 Struben Street, Pretoria, 0001. We read this on education.gov.za on 24 September 2026.

Department of Basic Education, Pretoria

Switchboard	012 357 3000
Hotline, toll-free	0800 202 933
Call centre email	callcentre@dbe.gov.za
General enquiries	info@dbe.gov.za
Fax	012 323 6260
Address	Sol Plaatje House, 222 Struben Street, Pretoria, 0001

0800 202 933 is toll-free and is the better number to use. The department calls it “DBE on the Line”. The switchboard on 012 357 3000 is charged at normal rates.

The building is Sol Plaatje House, which is how it is signposted, so ask for that rather than for the department by name if you are looking for it in Struben Street.

Matric certificates and certification

Certification has its own desk and its own numbers, and this is what most people actually want when they phone the department.

Certification	012 357 4511 or 012 357 4513
Certification email	certification@dbe.gov.za
Certificate applications	certificationapplications@dbe.gov.za

Note there are two certification addresses. Use certificationapplications@ when you are submitting an application for a certificate, and certification@ for a query about one.

Be aware of how the process actually works before you call. For a replacement matric certificate, the application usually goes through your provincial education department as the assessment body, not directly to the national office. The national department issues and certifies rather than taking applications over the counter.

A certificate cannot be issued on the same day, so plan for weeks rather than hours.

Two national departments, one street

This is the most common confusion, and it sends people to the wrong building.

South Africa has two national education departments, and both are in Pretoria:

Department	Covers	Contact
Basic Education (DBE)	Schools, Grades R to 12, matric	012 357 3000, hotline 0800 202 933
Higher Education and Training (DHET)	Universities, TVET colleges, SETAs	0800 87 2222, 086 999 0123

If your question is about a school, a teacher, a learner or a matric certificate, it is Basic Education. If it is about a university, a college, a bursary for tertiary study or a learnership, it is Higher Education and Training.

Both publish toll-free numbers, so there is no cost to starting with the wrong one and being redirected.

Provincial departments are separate again

The national office in Pretoria sets policy. Schools are run by the nine provincial education departments, and that is where most day-to-day matters belong.

So admissions to a particular school, a placement, a transfer, a school fee exemption, a teacher’s conduct or a problem at a school are provincial matters. Phoning Pretoria about them means being referred.

One point specific to this city: schools in Pretoria fall under the Gauteng Department of Education, which is a provincial department with its own offices, and its exam centre is in Johannesburg rather than Pretoria. The national department in Struben Street does not administer Pretoria’s schools.

The DBE publishes links to all nine provincial departments on its own site, which is the reliable way to reach the right one.

What the hotline is for

The toll-free hotline is a general public line rather than a complaints-only number, and the department pairs it with an email address so you can put something in writing.

Use callcentre@dbe.gov.za when you need a record of what you asked and when. For anything involving a certificate, a learner’s details or a school, include the full name, identity number and the year and school concerned; without those a query cannot be traced.

Every genuine address at the national department ends in @dbe.gov.za. A message about matric results or certificates from any other domain is not from the department, and nobody at the DBE can sell you a certificate or a result.

Sources

• Department of Basic Education contact page, education.gov.za, for the switchboard, hotline and fax numbers, the physical address and the call centre, certification and general email addresses (read 24 September 2026)
• Department of Basic Education site footer, for the national office address, call centre and certification contacts and the provincial departments listing (read 24 September 2026)
• Department of Higher Education and Training website, dhet.gov.za, for its published telephone numbers (read 24 September 2026)