19 November 2025

Kind Attention: Dr Mamiki Maboya
Curriculum Development
Department of Basic Education
Maboya.m@dbe.gov.za

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Dear Dr Maboya,

I write to you as head of Curriculum Development with a request that consideration be given to the inclusion of Animal Sentience as part of the STEM curriculum framework for senior phase learners. We believe that Animal Sentience in the senior phase would strengthen scientific literacy through its fundamental grounding in biology, neuroscience, behavior research, data analysis and modern technological applications.

Please see pages 4, 5 and 6 of the current issue of our magazine Animal Voice
https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2d2a7ee13d.html
where we feature our recent survey at the University of the Western Cape. The survey revealed that 74% of first year Sociology students had matriculated without any knowledge of animal sentience while there was a 100% consensus that they would have liked to learn about this topic in high school.

Pages 23 – 25 feature an interview with South African Law Professor Ann Skelton who, until
recently, was Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. She speaks at length on the right of every child to be educated to have respect for nature, including animal life as part of nature. Of course, children cannot have respect for something they don’t understand.

Animal Sentience – the scientifically evidenced capacity of animals to feel, perceive, and experience emotions – is now firmly recognised within the global scientific community and underlies the United Nations’ recent inclusion of animal welfare in the Child Rights domain.