The basic education system could be headed for disaster should the #FeesMustFall student protests at tertiary institutions force the academic year to close and prevent student teachers from graduating. Speaking to The Times, Elijah Mhlanga, spokesman for the Department of Basic Education, said the primary and high school system was already suffering from a shortage of teachers and a further disruption in supply would create a crisis."We are worried teachers who are currently in their final year will not able to graduate this year."It will have a serious impact on the supply of teachers for the basic education system," Mhlanga said."We estimate that this year 21,000 graduates will come from universities around the country. If they are not able to graduate we are headed for a disaster because every year we lose an average of 15000 teachers," said Mhlanga.He said the demand far outstripped supply because teachers were retiring or changing careers .Recent graduates were not all absorbed by public schools because some opted for private schools or did not enter the teaching profession at all.The demand for teachers was mainly at primary school for subjects such as mathematics and African languages in the foundation phase.All provinces needed teachers but Mhlanga said the bigger provinces would be hardest hit.SA Democratic Teachers Union general secretary Mugwena Maluleke warned that the quality of education would deteriorate even further and teachers would be overworked if t here were no uptake of teachers."Teachers in the system will have to fill the gap and we face a disaster," said Maluleke."We might struggle for two years to get teachers into the system and the foundation phase will suffer."..