Gwarube vows to prioritise poor rural and township schools, retain teachers

Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube says her department will prioritise under-resourced rural and township schools as it seeks to improve infrastructure, retain teachers and address the inequalities that continue to hamper learning.

The minister’s commitment comes after MP Yanga Govana asked whether the department of basic education intended to prioritise schools in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela local municipality in the Eastern Cape where many quintile 1-3 schools are plagued by poor infrastructure, making it difficult to attract and retain educators.

In her written parliamentary reply, Gwarube acknowledged that under-resourced schools required sustained government intervention.

“The minister is particularly concerned where inadequate infrastructure, long travel distances, safety risks and difficult working conditions make it harder for schools to attract and retain experienced educators,” said Gwarube.

Her remarks came against the backdrop of the Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC’s) 2025 School Readiness Report released in Johannesburg in November last year, which painted a bleak picture of the country’s public education system.

During monitoring visits to schools in all provinces, the commission found that many remained unsafe, under-resourced and deeply unequal despite years of policy reforms and government commitments.

The report described deteriorating infrastructure as education’s most urgent crisis.

In provinces including the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, inspectors encountered schools with collapsing walls, broken windows, asbestos classrooms and pit toilets still in use.

Some buildings were deemed unsafe and undignified for pupils.

The commission highlighted persistent shortages of textbooks and learning materials. While well-resourced schools including Rondebosch Boys’ High and Hoërskool Strand in the Western Cape received the necessary materials, many rural and township schools continued to have shortages.

Children in grades 8 and 9 in the North West, Gauteng and the Free State were among those affected, with some schools reporting they had still not received textbooks weeks into the academic term.

Hostel conditions were also flagged as a major concern.

Gwarube said while provincial education departments were primarily responsible for school infrastructure and educator management, the national department works with provinces to ensure the most under-resourced schools receive priority.

She said the department had identified several reasons why educators leave rural schools.

“The information sourced by the department of basic education indicates that educator movement in parts of this district is affected by several factors.

“These include the distance of some schools from towns and services; the cost and difficulty of commuting; safety and security concerns in some communities; and the relative attractiveness of better-resourced schools,” she said.

Gwarube addressed calls to reinstate the rural incentives policy, which was withdrawn in April 2022. The incentive scheme was first implemented in 2008 to draw teachers to hard-to-staff rural schools, typically adding about 10% to their salaries.

She said the withdrawal of the policy had been raised as one of the factors that may have affected educator retention in some rural and hard-to-staff schools.

She explained that the policy was discontinued after significant implementation challenges.

“These included inconsistency in how qualifying posts were identified, disputes and complaints about perceived unfairness and inconsistent application, difficulties in consultation processes, and affordability pressures in provincial budgets.”

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