The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has expressed huge concern and disappointment about the budget cuts to the basic education sector which might result in many teachers being axed.
Recently, Gauteng MEC of Education Matome Chiloane announced that he is planning to slash various education programmes, school transportation, feeding scheme and learning and teaching support materials (LTSM) in order to secure the jobs of about 3,600 teachers.
Chiloane said they had to come up with alternative ways to secure school teachers posts, as the department is experiencing a budget deficit of R4.5 billion.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape Department of Education announced that it will cut teachers jobs of about 2,400 across public schools due to its budget deficit of R3.8 billion.
Reacting to the teachers jobs cuts, the SAHRC said it is gravely concerned about the announced budget cuts to the basic education sector.
Wisani Baloyi, the commission's spokesperson said reports suggest that these proposed job cuts will disproportionately affect schools in poor communities, exacerbating the adverse educational outcomes in those communities.
“While the commission is concerned about the impact of the announced budget cuts on jobs and livelihoods, it is equally concerned about the impact of the announced budget cuts on addressing the challenge of poor school infrastructure, particularly in historically black and poor communities.”
Baloyi said the announcement of the budget deficit comes at a time when the country is battling with backlogs in school infrastructure.
“The announcement comes at a time when many provincial departments of education are unable to comply with the published norms and standards for school infrastructure due to budgetary constraints.”
She said the announced budget cuts will exacerbate these challenges and stall current efforts to address them, across all nine provinces.
“The announced budget cuts are, therefore, a regressive step.”
Baloyi said budget allocation should be aligned with the objective of progressively realising socio-economic rights, saying that budget allocations must always pass constitutional compliance.
She said the commission plans to engage with the Portfolio Committee on Education and submit feedback on the proposed budget cuts that will affect all facets of the right to basic education.
“The commission will also engage with the Minister of Basic Education (Siviwe Gwarube) to explore solutions to ameliorate the impact of the announced budget cuts on the right to basic education, and engage the Minister of Finance (Enoch Godongwana) on the impact of its budgeting decisions on the fulfilment of socio-economic rights more broadly, including the right of access to basic education.”
Baloyi said once informed by the discussions, they will explore all other options that are available within its mandate.
IOL News