Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube and Basic Education Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, shared their long-term vision towards stabilizing the education system given the budgetary constraints affecting provinces. The briefing on the budget cuts took place on 25 September 2024, at the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) in Pretoria.
“It is crucial to understand that this crisis is not confined to one province or one aspect of the education sector. The Deputy Minister and I have been in constant engagement with provinces to support them during this challenging fiscal environment. We have committed ourselves to doing everything we can to stabilise the system and have appealed to provinces to retain the basket of posts, in order to not compromise education outcomes, meaning that that no person will be retrenched, but vacancies will not be filled”.
The Minister convened two special meetings of the Council of Education Ministers (CEM). These meetings brought together education MECs from across the country and they conducted a thorough analysis of the budget challenges in each province. MECs from each province have compiled provisional provincial reports with sobering results. “For the first time in a decade, we now have a clearer picture of where the most significant budget pressures lie and how we need to engage treasury in a bid to address the challenges we see. As a result, I have requested an urgent meeting with the Minister of Finance to discuss the matter further. I am grateful to Minister Enoch Godongwana for his cooperation and support on this important matter. We are also appreciative of Treasury’s willingness to engage with the Education Sector. Ultimately a solution must be found in order for us to protect front line services,” the Minister said.
Minister Gwarube has also requested a convening of a political 10X10 meeting between the Minister of Finance and the provincial MECs for Finance, as well as herself and the nine MECs of Education. “We must work together with all 10 treasuries to unlock additional funds to alleviate the pressures facing the education sector, even if it is for the short term, and to prevent further cuts to teaching posts and critical support services like school nutrition and transport. We also need to look at cross-departmental reprioritisation of budgets from departments that have under-performing programmes, ensuring that funding across government is directed to appropriate national priorities,” she added.
Provinces such as the Western Cape have been forced to reduce the basket of teaching posts for 2025, a move that may result in fewer educators in classrooms. This may mean larger class sizes, reduced individual attention for learners and a risk to the achievement of quality education outcomes. Other provinces throughout the country are in a similar position with many working to find ways of avoiding having to top slice budgets for key services like textbooks, admin support and scholar transport programmes. PEDs will in the next two to three years, find it increasingly difficult to fund their existing basket of posts and existing programmes within the available budget, unless measures are taken proactively to mitigate this risk.
The Minister highlighted that the number of learners within the education system has increased by approximately 292,820 over the last five years. Learner/educator ratios have also steadily increased across most provinces. An increase in learners' numbers without increasing the post basket, may affect the quality of teaching which may soon be reflected in the performance of the system. Financial constraints have had the largest impact on educator provisioning, leading to a steady increase in learner/educator ratios in most PEDs. Earlier this month, the Minister held meetings with various international partners to reinforce South Africa's commitment to enhancing the education sector through global collaboration, and she had also undertaken Learning and Listening Tours to various provinces to better understand the challenges faced for improved quality teaching and learning.