Education budget cuts will ‘exacerbate existing inequalities’

With Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube having painted a bleak picture of a pending education crisis due to massive budget cuts, civil society groups have called for government not to touch education as that would violate the right to education by children and jeopardise teachers’ jobs.

The civil society-based Budget Justice Coalition (BJC) expressed concern about impending budget cuts to basic education announced by Gwarube, who raised alarm about a looming budget crisis due to a whopping R79 billion to R118 billion shortfall over the next three years.

The minister described the situation, if not addressed, as likely being catastrophic.

Gwarube last week said in the next two to three years her department might see a budget crunch due to teacher and other posts that had not been filled in all provinces.

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Provinces struggle to fill teaching posts amid budget shortfalls

Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have already reported that they wouldn’t be able to fill vacant posts due to lack of funds.

The Western Cape education department recently said 2 400 teaching posts would not be filled next year due to a R3.8 billion budget shortfall over the next three years.

Other provinces are also facing budget shortfalls, which may further limit their ability to fill teacher vacancies.

The minister said if this trend continued, overcrowding in classrooms would get worse.

She said almost all provincial education departments would find it increasingly difficult to fund existing baskets of posts and education programmes with their available budgets unless drastic measures (were put in place) to proactively mitigate the risk.

She indicated there had been no tangible budget increase as provincial departments had to endure living with existing posts due to budgetary constraints.

Gwarube blamed the situation on various factors (including) mismanagement and fiscal mismanagement, aggressive budget cuts and economic stagnation.

She attributed the problem also to wrong decisions such as bailing out state-owned enterprises to the tune of R331 billion between 2013 and 2023 and massive corruption.

While vacancies were not filled, no body lost their jobs as a result of the R4 billion shortfall. The BJC called for action to reverse the budget crisis in education.

“As a collective of civil society organisations committed to promoting equitable and rights-based budgeting, we recognise the critical importance of mobilising resources to ensure the state fulfils its obligation to provide for the constitutionally-protected right to quality basic education,” the coalition said.

The organisation was particularly concerned that with Gwarube’s announcement that the consolidated budget pressures between 2021-22 to 2027-28 was between R78 billion to R118 billion across the provinces.

“Budget cuts towards basic education will disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, exacerbating existing inequalities and undermining South Africa’s Constitutional guarantee of the right to basic education,” BJC said.

“We urge policymakers to prioritise education spending, ensuring sufficient funding for schools, teachers, resources and infrastructure.

Potential education budget cuts affected hiring and retaining teachers.

Commenting on the 2024-25 financial year budget which proposed a 3.2% increase in compensation for basic education personnel that would rise from R235.3 billion to R241.9 billion, the coalition said that seemed like a step forward whereas it actually translated to a 2.2% real cut once inflation at the time was factored in.

“This reduction has done little to address the pressing issue of understaffing in our public schools, which has been a concern for years.

The National Treasury has long recognised that these budget allocations jeopardise education outcomes, leading to larger class sizes and higher teacher-to-pupil ratios,” BJC said.

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