Teaching vacancies reach unacceptable levels in Eastern Cape

Sitting in a class without a teacher is a sad reality for tens of thousands of pupils in Eastern Cape.

The province’s education MEC, Fundile Gade, revealed that there were 4,107 vacant teacher posts at 2,348 schools across the province.

The number of unfilled posts at the end of July included principals (726), deputy principals (312), head of departments (918) and teachers (1,765). There were also 306 vacancies for, among others, substitute and grade R teachers.

Responding to a written question from DA shadow minister of education Yusuf Cassim, Gade said the net vacancy rate at the end of July was 1,615 because the 4,107 vacant posts included 2,492 “excess” teachers.

This refers to teachers whose services are no longer required at their current school because it has the required number of staff based on the total pupil enrolment and these educators have to be placed at other schools.

Gade said that “in light of the current projected budget shortfall/over expenditure in 2021/22, it is most likely that these posts [1,615] will only be filled in 2022, pending the confirmation of budget availability in PPN [post-provisioning norm] 2022”.

The PPN refers to the total number of funded teacher posts that the nine provincial education departments declare annually. This year’s PPN for the Eastern Cape was 54,026.

A serious concern was an admission by Gade that 86% of the posts had been vacant for more than three months.

Education is the foundation of opportunity and the department must prioritise this by filling these vacancies.

—  DA shadow minister of education Yusuf Cassim

Amathole East had 603 vacancies, the highest among all districts in the province, followed by OR Tambo Coastal (409), Buffalo City (398) and OR Tambo Inland (375).

Cassim said that pupils who are already faced with a shortage of classrooms, sanitation facilities and resources “must also deal with thousands of teacher vacancies, along with vacancies for principals, deputy principals and heads of departments”.

“Even though there are 2,492 excess educators employed by the department, these have not been placed and are unlikely to have the requisite qualifications for the vacancies that exist.”

He said that teachers and pupils were expected to excel in conditions “where there is no leadership from the school itself or from the department of education”.

Cassim said the possibility that the vacant posts were likely to be filled only next year was “an injustice” to pupils, teachers and unemployed graduates.

“Education is the foundation of opportunity and the department must prioritise this by filling these vacancies.”

The province’s education spokesperson, Mali Mtima, said that budgets to all programmes had to be cut after the National Treasury slashed its budget by R4.4bn.

“All schools that requisitioned textbooks for 2021 have received their textbooks.”

He said that while the department had budgeted R27m for furniture, “there are still schools that required furniture due to Covid-19 regulations”.

KwaZulu-Natal’s education MEC, Kwazi Mshengu, told teacher unions on Tuesday that the province could afford to pay only 82,964 of the 85,730 teachers in the system and that it would need an extra R1.2bn to pay the remaining teachers

The province’s budget was cut by R6.5bn.

Meanwhile, basic education minister Angie Motshekga said in response to a parliamentary question on Thursday that foreign educators were considered as a “last resort” when it came to the appointment of teachers.

“They [foreign teachers] are considered in subjects identified such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).”

She said that a guideline document on the employment of foreign teachers, which is aligned with the provisions of both the Immigration Act and Immigration Regulations, has since been adopted, and is implemented when foreign teachers are appointed.

“A working relationship between the department of basic education and departments of home affairs and labour, has also been established.”