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Mail & Guardian reports that Department of Basic Education (DBE) Minister Angie Motshekga says her department has started recruiting people to fill the 31,000 teacher shortage in the country.
She announced this last week in response to a parliamentary question. KwaZulu-Natal, at 7,044, has recorded the highest number of unfilled posts, followed by the Eastern Cape and Limpopo at 6,111 and 4 933, respectively. The 31,000 shortage is a 28% increase on the 24,000 vacancies recorded in 2021. “This is a serious disaster and dilemma because a shortage of management and support staff is a recipe for a catastrophe in any education system,” said the National Teachers Union’s (Natu’s) Doctor Ngema. SA’s public education system has 410,000 teachers employed in about 25,000 schools in the country, according to the department. Education advocacy group Equal Education believes that the number of unfilled posts is more than the 31,000 cited by Motshekga. The effect of the teacher shortage has resulted in overcrowded classrooms, overburdened educators, educational disparities and placed financial strain on the schooling system. Many teachers are said to be opting to move abroad for better pay, employment perks and “well-behaved” learners. Mary Metcalfe, a former member of the Gauteng Executive Council for Education, commented: “The lack of opportunities and poor working conditions are the main reasons teachers are choosing to go and teach overseas, and they find better perks there than they could ever find in South Africa.” The Centre for Development and Enterprise has estimated that SA will need 456,000 teachers by 2025 for the country to offer quality education. Equal Education has called on national and provincial treasuries to reverse all cuts made to education budgets, end austerity budgeting and prioritise the allocation of teacher posts to overcrowded schools.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Umamah Bakharia at Mail & Guardian
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