Critical learner support programmes under threat due to unfunded wage agreement

The national government’s decision to not fully fund the 2023 multi-year public sector wage agreement has put critical learner support programmes at risk across the country.

Every province is facing a fiscal emergency because of the national government’s decision.

Every province will have to find a way to foot the enormous cost of the nationally negotiated wage agreement, which the national government has chosen not to pay in full.

How provinces cover the shortfall, if they are even able to do so, will vary, but every option we choose will have a negative impact on our children’s futures.

We appreciate the leadership that the national Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, is showing by calling a special Council of Education Minister’s meeting this week to analyse how each province has been affected.

In the Western Cape, we made some clear decisions on what spending we needed to protect in the face of this massive budget shortfall.

Firstly, we agreed that we would protect schools for learners with special education needs from the reduction in posts. These are our most vulnerable learners and require extra care and support from our department.

Secondly, we agreed that we would not cut funding for school meals or learner transport. We provide meals to over 535 000 vulnerable children each day, and transport nearly 68 000 learners to school who would otherwise not be able to attend.

We cannot have learners go hungry, or be unable to get to school, so cutting this budget was not an option for our province.

Thirdly, we agreed that we would not cut the funding that our schools receive to pay their daily expenses. Schools rely on this funding to pay for everything from water and lights to stationery.

We cannot have a situation where schools cannot write exams because they can’t afford paper, or have their electricity disconnected because they can’t pay the bill.

The choice to reduce the number of teaching posts was therefore an unavoidable one.

This is why we are fighting for our teachers alongside other provinces, to ensure that Basic Education is a priority for South Africa.

We ask political leaders, teachers’ unions, activists and parents to fight alongside us, rather than against us, for basic education and for our teachers, so that together we can deliver quality education for every child in every province in South Africa.