Basic Education Employment Initiative School Assistants

Written by Thabo MokoenaSenior Education Editor

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

The Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) is the schools arm of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative. It pays unemployed young people a monthly stipend to work in public schools for a few months as education assistants or general school assistants. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) runs it with the Department of Employment and Labour, and it has been held in five phases since December 2020. Phase V ended on 30 November 2025. On 29 September 2026 no Phase VI had been announced, and the DBE had published no dates for another intake.

The President’s weekly letter of 16 February 2026 calls the school assistants programme the largest youth employment programme in South Africa’s history, with more than 1.3 million work opportunities created, and says the government hopes it will keep growing. The letter gives no date for a next phase.

Five phases since 2020

Figures for Phases I to IV come from the comparison table in the DBE’s Phase V implementation framework; elsewhere in the same document the DBE gives slightly different rounded totals, so treat them as approximate. There was a pause of about a year between Phases IV and V. At the end of Phase V the DBE said close to 200,000 young people had worked in some 20,000 schools, with more than R795 million in stipends paid each month.

Education assistants and general school assistants

Education assistants work alongside teachers. They are not teachers and do not teach or assess. The categories used in Phase V were:

• Curriculum assistants, supporting mathematics, science, technology and high-enrolment subjects in the FET phase;
• Reading Champions, focused on reading and literacy in the Foundation and Intermediate Phases, which received more posts in Phase V;
• e-Cadres, helping teachers use ICT in class and helping schools with their administration systems.

General school assistants covered care and support for learners (basic psychosocial support), sport and enrichment activities, handyman and handywoman maintenance work, and laboratory and workshop assistance. Every assistant works under a mentor at the school.

Grade 9 or matric, age 18 to 34, and living near the school

The Phase V rules give the clearest picture of who qualifies:

• aged 18 to 34, turning 35 no later than 31 March of the following year; at schools for learners with special education needs, people with disabilities up to age 39 can be placed;
• not in employment, education or training, and not receiving a government grant (the R350 grant has to be cancelled once a placement is confirmed) or any other wage or stipend; students doing a teaching degree by distance learning are the exception;
• living within 5 km of the school, or 30 km for farm and rural schools;
• only one person per household;
• a valid South African ID and a police clearance certificate.

According to the President’s February 2026 letter, general school assistants need at least Grade 9 and education assistants at least a matric certificate; the DBE’s programme page adds that education assistants need a matric pass in English. Graduates with NQF level 6 or 7 qualifications were prioritised, including BEd graduates. Schools were asked to favour women and people with disabilities, with targets of 65% women and 2% youth with disabilities.

Pay, hours and leave in Phase V

The Phase V conditions of placement set a gross stipend of R4,000 a month. After a 1% UIF deduction of R40, assistants received R3,960, plus R30 for data. Partial months were paid at R132.49 a day, and the stipend was paid on the last working day of each month. Assistants worked no more than 40 hours a week over five days, with no overtime pay, and earned 1.8 days’ vacation leave and one day’s sick leave per full month worked. Contracts were fixed term, with no promise of permanent work or an extension.

Training is part of the deal. In Phase V it included a compulsory two-hour course on school safety and the handling of sexual abuse and harassment, compulsory digital literacy training from Digify Africa and NEMISA, and online financial literacy. The President’s letter lists school safety, online safety, financial literacy, word processing, AI fluency and coding among the compulsory and optional courses. Each assistant leaves with a reference letter and is guided to register on platforms such as SAYouth.mobi, YES4Youth and the NYDA for further opportunities.

Applying only through SAYouth.mobi

In Phase V, applications ran from 22 April to 9 May 2025 on SAYouth.mobi, with interviews and contracting from 19 to 31 May. The DBE said there would be no walk-ins at schools. Schools then recruited from ranked lists supplied by SAYouth (Harambee), with school governing bodies and management teams running interviews. The DBE’s BEEI page says young people should apply “when the application period is open”. Registering a SAYouth profile ahead of time is the practical step for anyone waiting for a new phase.

Assistants who discover a calling for teaching can look at funding for a teaching degree among our education bursaries, and the NSFAS bursary covers qualifying students at public universities and TVET colleges.

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