Budget cuts are an inevitable part of government cycles and a necessary response to economic realities. Yet they remain a painful challenge. In education, where we strive to make schools the foundation of social equity, the task of achieving more with less is never easy but it is one we must strive for.
The toughest question we face is how to adhere to the budget cuts without compromising the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE)’s mission of ensuring that education contributes to the reduction of inequalities in society.
Our fiscal position is arguably at its worst since the dawn of democracy, burdened by a national debt exacerbated by global crises, corruption, load-shedding, and the devastating impact of Covid-19.
It is against this backdrop that many departments, including the GDE, are forced to grapple with difficult financial realities.
Communities, rightly so, are asking where the money is going – especially for vital services, including scholar transport, school nutrition, learning and teaching support material and school furniture.
It is our duty to ensure that every stakeholder, as a partner in our province’s progress, has clarity as we navigate these choppy waters together.
In times of financial austerity, transparency is more critical than ever. As a department that has once again received a clean audit opinion this year, we take our responsibility to ensure accountability seriously. When it comes to making cuts, decisions are made on the basis of objective facts and reality.
By presenting financial information in a clear, and easy-to-understand way, we can help our communities understand the difficult trade-offs and decisions that must be taken.
While it might not be the outcome citizens want to hear, this openness supports a more informed conversation and can help build trust and buy-in.
As I outlined in my budget speech a few months ago, the GDE has historically seen its budget grow by 27.4% from 2020/21 to 2024/25, a rise of R14.1-billion over five years.
However, for the 2024/25 financial year there was a marginal budget increase of R65.8-billion, which an increase of 3.8% or R2.4-billion from the previous year due to challenges such as corruption, load-shedding and Covid-19.
This means that while the province is growing by a net intake of more than 60 000 new learners annually, the provincial education budgets have been cut by approximately R2.7-billion this financial and R2.6-billion in the next financial year.
Without careful management, these budgetary constraints could result in the loss of approximately 3 400 teaching posts. This, in turn, would require that every single school reorganise the number of classes offered in order to adjust to a less than healthy teacher-to-learner ratio, adjusting of timetables and the loss of specialist educators.
The compensation of employees remains the largest cost centre of the education budget, amounting to R48.6-billion or 73.9% of the total budget. This reflects an increase of 5.8% or R2.6-billion from last year. This increase is attributable to the implementation of the public service wage agreement.
However, the projected shortfall on the current employment levels is at about R1.3-billion.
Despite these challenges, we are committed to working hard to retain the current deployment of 62 000 teaching posts. We will do all in our power to mini-mise job cuts. We understand the devastating impact that job cuts could have not only on our teachers but on the delivery of quality education for learners.
There is simply no room to reduce teaching posts without drastically affecting the quality of education. We cannot allow a situation where over 100 learners are squeezed into a single classroom with one teacher.
In response to these fiscal constraints, we have embarked on a rigorous process of cost containment, focusing on innovative ways to manage our budget.
This involves streamlining underperforming programmes, cutting non-essential expenditure, and tightening our belt in areas that do not directly impact the core mission of education. By working with Treasury, employees, vendors and suppliers; we are striving to balance the budget while safeguarding the quality of education.
Programmes that are crucial and grant-dependent, such as the nutrition programme in schools, will remain intact and unaffected.
While budget cuts force us to re-evaluate our priorities and find creative ways to do more with less. We will do everything in our power to ensure education remains a force for positive change in Gauteng and a beacon of hope for generations to come.
- Chiloane is Gauteng MEC for education, sports, arts, culture and recreation
