Success in South Africa's education will greatly help achieve the United Nations (UN) millennium development goals (MDGs), particularly reducing poverty, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Friday.

"Our children and young people need to be better prepared by their schools to read, write, think critically and solve numerical problems," Motshekga said at the Union Buildings at the signing of a delivery agreement for quality education.

"These skills are the foundations on which further studies, job satisfaction, productivity and meaningful citizenship are based."

One after another, various ministers and education MECs who filled the venue signed the agreements after Motshekga. She described the moment as a "landmark in improving schooling".

The agreements are based on four goals. These include improving the quality of education, undertaking regular assessment to track progress, improving early childhood development and creating a planning and accountability system.

These are part of the gazetted "Action Plan to 2014: Towards the realisation of schooling 2025", a long-term plan for transforming basic education in South Africa.

It also aims to train more teachers, improve the quality of early childhood development, increase access to "high-quality learning materials", establish a "world-class" system of standardised national assessments, and ensure all children attend Grade R.

Motshekga said she was impressed by the volume of responses the plan had received.