Cape Town - The Department of Basic Education (DBE) said following consultations with the various provincial education departments, the current budget pressures were at a minimum R79 billion and at a maximum placed at R118bn.
DBE chief financial officer Patrick Khunou said these pressures started from the 2021/22 financial year and were projected through to the 2027/28 financial year.
For the Western Cape, the minimum budget pressure was placed at R4.4bn with a maximum of R6.3bn.
Yesterday, Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, briefed the media, providing an update on the developments related to the budget cuts and provincial analysis of the impact of the cuts on the education sector.
“The budget shortfall for the education sector is sitting between just over R79bn to R118bn over the medium-term period. So that is what we are looking at with our projections if we continue with the current funding bracket. It’s also important to note that these figures are not limited to just teacher provisioning, but this is across the board, what provinces are working with.”
Gwarube said the real solution to the funding crisis in the education sector is a government-wide re-prioritisation process. “This is not something DBE can do. This is not something that I think Treasury on its own can do. I think as a government, we need to sit and we need to figure out what is more important.
“And in my view, in the fiscal environment this tough, you have to prioritise things that matter the most – teaching, health care, policing.”
She said the pressures were not a recent occurrence but had been years in the making due to aggressive budget cuts, economic stagnation, and fiscal management across government, which is affecting front-line services.
She added that budget pressures translated to fewer teachers, reduced textbooks and fewer admin support staff. “In provinces like the Western Cape, we’ve already seen the decision to reduce the basket of teaching post for 2025. A move that may result in fewer educators in classrooms. This may mean larger class sizes, reduced individual attention for learners, and ultimately a risk to the achievement of quality education outcomes.”
Gwarube said in the next two or three years, provincial education departments will find it increasingly difficult to fund their existing basket of posts and existing programmes within their available budget, unless measures to proactively mitigate the risks are taken. Nationally, the number of learners within the education system has increased by about 292000 over the last five years, resulting in the increase in the learner/educator ratio across the provinces.
“If we continue down the path of regressing the sector, the projections indicate that most provincial education departments will not be able to maintain posts.”
Cape Argus