Equal Education (EE) says the Treasury’s stated commitment to contain the public sector wage bill as much as possible will push the education system to the brink of collapse.
This comes after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered his 2024 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).
Godongwana said he had reinstated budgets earlier this year for Equitable Share among the provinces and if there was any crisis for the compensation of employees and the wage bill, it was “self-inflicted”, pointing fingers at how the provincial education departments spend the allocated budgets.
The EE said fewer young teachers are being funded to enter the education sector after cuts to the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme were announced in February.
“Treasury and government’s stubborn commitment to austerity budgeting, which aims to limit non-interest expenditure to below revenue figures until at least 2030, undermines critical socio-economic rights enshrined in our Constitution. Quality public services, in education, are essential to the country’s future. These are being criminally underfunded under the current framework. The 2024 MTBPS highlighted infrastructure as one of its main pillars but offered little in the way of commitments to fixing school infrastructure backlogs.
“To make matters worse, the MTBPS tabled R11 billion to encourage public sector workers to take early retirement packages. Treasury’s stated commitment to contain the public sector wage bill as much as possible will push the education system to the brink of collapse,” the EE said.
Department of Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said budget pressures continue to threaten the delivery of quality education.
Gwarube said education must feature as a critical area of intervention in the upcoming 2025/2026 budget allocations.
“While the MTBPS allocations represent steps in the right direction, the budget pressures faced by provincial education departments continue to pose a significant threat to the delivery of quality education. These pressures have been years in the making due to progressive budget cuts, economic stagnation, and fiscal mismanagement across government. Ultimately, education is the foundation of a thriving economy, equipping young people with the skills necessary to become qualified and ultimately contribute to the economy. It must, therefore, feature as a critical area of intervention in the coming budget allocations by the National Treasury,” said Gwarube.
Education MEC David Maynier said they welcomed the additional funding from the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) which was reinstated during February.
Maynier said the allocation would be spent building new schools and infrastructure that are urgently needed in the Western Cape.
National Treasury made an additional provisional allocation of R2.549bn over the next three years, to the Rapid School Build programme in the Western Cape “However, we are disappointed that no additional funding was provided to provincial education departments for teachers’ salaries, which will increase class sizes and negatively affect learning outcomes,” said Maynier.
Build One SA (Bosa) acting spokesperson, Roger Solomons, said that only the Western Cape province received additional funding this year for the education sector.
“(We are) seeking an explanation as to this preferential treatment amid an education funding crisis whereby at least R79bn extra funding is needed just this year to ensure teachers are paid and schools are resourced across all provinces. There can be no favourites within the Government of National Unity (GNU), and Bosa will see to it that a full explanation is given for such a move while millions of learners outside of the Western Cape continue to suffer from chronic underfunding.”
Cape Times