Fiscal pressures are becoming extreme in provincial education departments. The situation is so acute in KwaZulu-Natal that the provincial treasury has taken over the department of education’s rapidly unravelling finances.
At least two other provincial education departments — in the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape — are also living dangerously, in that they are amassing large accruals (running out of funds and having to wait for next year’s budget to pay current outstanding bills). But even Gauteng and the Western Cape, two comparatively stable provinces, are under severe pressure.
Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube has met with the MECs of finance and education in KZN and initiated a broader discussion with the president on the fiscal situation in education.
Stellenbosch University associate professor of economics Martin Gustafsson says: “It is widely acknowledged that there is a financing crisis in the basic education sector.” The failure of education budgets to keep pace with the 8% increase in state school enrolment since 2012 has caused South Africa’s average teacher-pupil ratio to rise from about 1:27 then to 1:29 now. This puts the country five points higher than comparable countries.
To manage budget pressures, provinces have cut either teaching posts or spending on educational materials, school feeding schemes and school maintenance.
Gauteng, to avoid firing 3,400 teachers, has had to shift R481m from its discretionary goods and services budget (stationery, textbooks, nutrition and transport) to pay salaries.
The upshot is that the number of Gauteng teachers has remained static but the ratio of personnel costs to nonpersonnel costs has deteriorated. Previously, 29% of the department’s budget went to the latter. Now only 23% does.
The Western Cape went the more unpopular route of axing 2,400 teacher posts last year to balance its budget when it was faced with the national government’s failure to fully fund the 2023 multiyear wage agreement.
“We made tough choices last year,” says Western Cape education minister David Maynier. “These choices affected teaching and learning seriously because they increased our educator-learner ratio … but I think it was the right decision, because it kept the balance between personnel and nonpersonnel expenditure stable.
“Other provinces have chosen to cut their goods and services and infrastructure budgets, and several just keep cutting discretionary spending and running up accruals, because there is insufficient political space to make the hard choices,” he adds.
Gustafsson has found that between 2017 and 2025 nonpersonnel recurrent spending per learner dropped by 8% in real terms at the primary school level. But school infrastructure has suffered most. He expects real spending on school infrastructure to be 37% lower by 2027 than in 2017.
The Gauteng education department (GED), for instance, has a R31bn maintenance backlog, yet allocated only R639m to repairs in 2024/2025 — just 2% of what is needed.
“As a result, many learners are still attending classes in unsafe, deteriorating buildings, with toilets, water systems and classrooms in disrepair,” the acting head of the department, Albert Chanee, said at a recent Research on Socio-Economic Policy conference in Stellenbosch.
Learners in underresourced communities bear the brunt, which widens educational and economic divides
— Albert Chanee
“Learners in underresourced communities bear the brunt, which widens educational and economic divides. We will never address this unless the budget model is changed in some way.”
Gustafsson warns that a worsening teacher-pupil ratio, larger classes, fewer materials for learners and an underinvestment in physical infrastructure are likely to affect learning, in part owing to teacher demotivation.
The Western Cape is bucking the trend on school infrastructure. Through its rapid school build programme it will erect 29 new schools over the next three years at a cost of R2.8bn. The funding will come from the budget facility for infrastructure, the education infrastructure grant and the provincial equitable share.
However, with significant in-year budget cuts becoming the norm and the medium-term budget now pushed out from its traditional slot in October to November 12, provinces will have budget certainty only in the first or second week of December.
“Acute as the budget cuts are, the budget uncertainty is worse,” says Maynier. “This makes it impossible to plan and budget properly. The effect this has on the education system is underappreciated.”
Practically, it means holding back the stop/go decision until the last minute in terms of authorising schools to hire new teachers or get school building contractors on site. It often means that contractors have to work through the night and the builders’ December recess to finish schools on time for the new school year.
Maynier and Gwarube say the time is ripe for a serious conversation between the National Treasury and the education establishment on how to ensure the sector’s fiscal sustainability.
Last month Gwarube constituted (for the first time since it was legally established in 2009) the 14-member National Education & Training Council (NETC) to advise her on school education policy. One of its priorities is to review the school resourcing model.
Part of the problem is that state schools typically get a CPI-related increase in their subsidies, which is inadequate given that municipal rates and taxes have increased by 8%-15% a year over the past 10 years, textbooks by 18%-20%, water by 8% and electricity by 7%-29%.
Chanee revealed that some municipalities have started switching off services and lights to schools at exam time to ensure they get paid.
“The situation is unsustainable,” he said. “If we don’t prioritise education funding, we’ll be in dire straits. Much as we’re increasing accountability and reducing inefficiency, the level of savings is not enough to reduce the ongoing [budget uncertainty] we’re faced with.”
An additional problem is that for many years the national department of basic education (DBE) has been driven by magical thinking — it has introduced new plans, such as making grade R compulsory last year through the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, without having the required budgets in place. In fact, the provincial budget subprogramme dealing with grade R in schools is set to decline by 1% in real terms between 2025 and 2027.
At the same time, the government has entered into national wage agreements but failed to fully fund the provinces to implement them, leaving them to cut headcounts or expenditure on goods and services.
“The DBE and the Treasury are in a cul-de-sac and have to find a way out together,” says Maynier. “This mediated, tough conversation on resource allocation is an opportunity. The minister is working hard to facilitate it.”
Maynier says the provinces should bargain for additional education budget allocations in exchange for reforms that curtail expenditure and improve learner outcomes. His main suggestion is that schools should focus on offering a curtailed, core curriculum.
Chanee says the GED is also starting to think about how it can cut the number of subjects, pointing out that some schools in the further education & training phase (grades 10-12) have as many as 22.
Often schools that offer a high number of options also suffer from low performance because teachers are teaching subjects they are not properly qualified to teach, Chanee explains. “So narrowing the focus and number of subjects could help.”
Maynier cites as an example the Centre of Science & Technology, a no-fee maths and science-focused school in Khayelitsha that offers only seven subjects but achieved 19 distinctions in maths and a 98% matric pass rate last year.
He believes that applying that hyperfocus holds the key to achieving better learning outcomes at lower cost. The 29 new schools the province will be building will deliver more focused curricula for this very reason.
Maynier also intends to drive far greater accountability for learning outcomes at the primary school level, as it provides the “scaffolding” for maths and literacy.
However, finance minister Enoch Godongwana tells the FM: “The idea that funding gaps in education could be filled through efficiency gains elsewhere misunderstands South Africa’s fiscal position.
“While the Treasury is identifying targeted and responsible savings to present at the time of the medium-term budget policy statement, the quantum of the funding gaps in education is larger and more urgent than such efficiency gains could fill.
“We are not in a situation where unlimited resources exist in other departments, waiting to be redirected. Every rand allocated to one priority means a rand not available for [another]: health, social grants, infrastructure or debt service obligations.”
While he concedes that provincial education departments face genuine challenges, he says: “These challenges require more than additional funding. They demand better spending choices and improved efficiency within existing allocations.”
Godongwana says he remains available to discuss these matters with Gwarube and the NETC and is urging them to make specific proposals in this regard.
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