Government allocates R19.1bn for teachers over the medium term

Source: Pexels

“Our learner-teacher ratios remain higher than we would like, meaning that we still need more teachers in classrooms,” Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana said on Wednesday in Parliament.

According to the minister, paying salaries constitutes 76% of provincial education budgets.

“This means that only R24 out of every R100 of their budget is left for funding school infrastructure, meals for learners from poor backgrounds, and stationery and textbooks, amongst others.

“To prevent compensation of employees from crowding out other equally important areas of spending, R19.1bn is added over the medium term to keep approximately 11,000 teachers in classrooms,” the minister said during the Budget Speech.

He said the foundation to building the next generation of citizens who contribute economically and socially to the nation is in early childhood development (ECD).

“Despite this, the subsidy for ECD has not increased from the 2019 level of R17 per day, per child. To remedy this, an additional R10 billion over the medium term is allocated to increase the subsidy to R24 per day per child. The extra funding will also support increased access to ECD for approximately 700,000 more children up to the age of four.”

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Meanwhile, the Department of Higher Education is implementing a pilot student funding model for the “missing middle”, which refers to students from families with annual incomes ranging from R350,000 to R600,000.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme will manage these loans using funds provided by the National Skills Fund, amounting to R1.5bn in 2024/25 and R3bn over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.

“The apprenticeship and skills development levy systems will be reviewed. The goal, in collaboration with the private sector, is to double the number of artisans completing trade tests in the next three years through increased work-based learning opportunities.

“The arts, culture, sport and recreation sector is allocated R38.4bn over the medium term to support school sports, national recreation events and selected sporting codes, as well as to preserve and promote the cultural, heritage and linguistic diversity of South Africa,” Treasury’s 2025 Budget Review document noted.