Basic education faces R2.1bn in budget cuts

THE Department of Basic Education is facing cuts to its budget to the tune of R2.1 billion over the next three years.

This comes as the National Treasury is projecting reduced teacher numbers due to early retirements, and that will result in larger class sizes during the same period.

The National Treasury’s estimates of national expenditure document said the department’s expenditure would increase from R23.4bn in 2020/21 to R28.8bn in the 2023/24 financial year.

The department has been allocated R27bn for the new financial year, which starts in April.

However, the Cabinet has approved reductions of R1.6bn over the medium term.

The budget cuts include R413.3 million on the school infrastructure backlogs grant, R254.8m on the Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme and R209.2m in transfers to provinces for various conditional grants, including the HIV and Aids grant, to the tune of R61.4m.

The budget document said the department’s commitment would be to ensure pupils have access to safe and appropriate infrastructure.

“The allocation to the education infrastructure grant is R36.7bn over the MTEF period, whereas the allocation to the school infrastructure backlog grant is R6.8bn, of which R2.3bn is allocated in 2021/22 to build 21 new schools and provide sanitation to 1 000 schools,” it said.

Treasury said the department faced low compensation growth of 0.8% over the three-year period, combined with early retirements that would reduce the number of available teachers.

“This could, with rising numbers of learners, imply larger class sizes, especially in no-fee schools, which is expected to negatively affect learning outcomes.”