• A budget shortfall of nearly R4 billion will see the Western Cape Department of Education cut 2 400 teacher posts across the province next year.
• The Education MEC says that a national wage increase hasn’t been balanced by the national government, leaving a huge budget shortfall.
• He adds that the education budget shortfall is likely to face the other provinces as well.

On Tuesday this week, Head of Department for Western Cape Education Brent Walters sent messages to schools across the province informing them that the current number of educator posts would be cut down due to “severe budget cuts.”

According to MEC for Education David Maynier, Western Cape will remove the amount of teacher posts across the province by around 2 400 in 2025. He says that the decision has been taken so that the department and by extension, its schools remain fiscally stable, and the issue will likely affect teacher jobs in the Western Cape for the next three years.

“Teachers are our greatest asset, and reducing the number of teachers in our schools will negatively impact learning outcomes, so this is a decision that we have not taken lightly,” he says in a statement.

The department is placing the blame squarely on national government, which has failed to fund a nationally negotiated wage agreement for educators. Teachers are now set to receive higher salaries, but the government has not adjusted the provincial budget in the Western Cape to accommodate this.

Maynier says his department has been forced to fund 36 percent of the wage increase, while the government has funded the remaining 64 percent. This discrepancy has cratered the provincial education budget, with a shortfall of R3.8 billion.

Budget cuts imposed by the department, Maynier says, have not managed to offset the shortfall.

“We have done everything we can to fight for our teachers by imposing budget cuts across the board, including on administration, curriculum and infrastructure,” he explains.

“We have also frozen the recruitment of most public service staff, encouraged schools to convert contract appointments, and restricted the appointment of substitute teachers. Despite implementing a drastic R2.5 billion budget cut, we still face a R3.8 billion budget shortfall over the next three years.”

Maynier says that the process of retrenching educators by cutting posts will take the circumstances of each school into consideration, but it will all have the same effect.

“Teachers are our greatest asset, and reducing the number of teachers in our schools will negatively impact learning outcomes, so this is a decision that we have not taken lightly,” he says.

The Western Cape Department of Education is now in contact with teacher unions and the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) for urgent action to save posts “because the budget shortfalls impact all provinces.”

[Image – Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash]