Education departments across the country grappling with budget cuts, says MEC

The national government's decision not to fully fund the 2023 public sector wage agreement has caused a fiscal crisis for education departments across the country, warned Western Cape education MEC David Maynier.

The Western Cape education department has been criticised after confirming 2,400 teaching posts would be cut in 2025 due to a R3.8bn budget shortfall over the next three years.

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said poor, working-class communities would bear the brunt of the cuts.

Schools in the province were told on Friday how they would be affected by the reduction in the basket of educator posts for 2025.

“We are not firing teachers, and we are not retrenching teachers. The reduction in posts will mean some contract teachers will not be reappointed after their contracts end on December 312024, and some permanent teachers will be asked to move to another school where there is a suitable vacancy,” said Maynier.

“We understand this will result in difficult choices for our schools. We have been engaging with teachers’ unions in this regard over the past month to ensure they understand the reason behind the decision. It is not a decision that has been taken lightly.”

Citing presentations to the portfolio committee on basic education in the National Assembly on August 20, Maynier said the 2023 wage agreement had “caused a fiscal crisis for education departments across the country”.

KwaZulu-Natal told the committee it could not afford 11,092 of its teacher posts and had a budget shortfall of R4bn this year.

Mpumalanga had to grapple with budget pressure of R876m and North West had to find R485m, said Maynier. The Northern Cape faced a shortfall after it had to implement the “drastic removal of a large number of vacant posts”.

Gauteng told the committee it would have to reduce pupil transport and would be unable to expand early childhood development coverage as planned.

GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron said on Monday the rights of children in the province were being “sabotaged to fund a safety plan that is failing” as it had not significantly reduced the number of murders in the province.

Premier Alan Winde, he said, had recently revealed funding for the safety plan had been taken from the provincial education and health departments

Heron said: “Slashing budget allocations to core mandates of education and health services will have long-lasting impacts on children in the province and on the efforts to reduce crime.”

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