Durban — Eyebrows were raised over the approximately 4 500 fewer teachers, money spent and budget cuts in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (DoE).
The finance portfolio committee 2021/22 unaudited closeout report hearings on the Education Budget Performance 2021/22 for March 31, 2022, fourth quarter were heard on Friday at the KZN legislature.
The initial budget for the DoE that was appropriated was R53.1 billion in 2021/22. Expenditure at the end of March 2022 amounted to R59bn.
The DoE’s chief financial officer, Lalisingh Rambaran, said during the year many adjustments had taken place due to huge budget cuts.
The department had a total increase (additional funding) of R4.4bn which was made up mainly of the wage agreement of R1.7bn and spending on infrastructure and the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) of R1.3bn given to the department.
Rambaran said the department was experiencing a huge overspend of almost R2.5bn and towards the end of the year, it was projected at R1.3bn. The Treasury assisted with R795m. The department received additional funding for the infrastructure grant of R205m, but this only came on March 24, 2022, seven days before the financial year-end.
Compensation of employees was at R48.8bn. Rambaran said this category had overspent by R616.343 million due to the budget reductions instated by the Treasury to curb the public service wage bill and the non-funding of the 1.5% wage agreement.
The department appointed temporary educators and substitute educators based on a need basis in relation to the learner-teacher ratio at schools.
The posts approved for the department were 107 433 (90 057 educators, 2 239 specialists and 15 137 public service employees). A further 40 333 posts were provided for interns, and a further 64 117 posts related to PYEI. Therefore, a budget of R47.9bn was provided for the appointment of 205 769 employees, including PYEI.
The DoE calculated that the current compensation of employees budget resulted in 6 114 posts (cost R2.3bn) being unaffordable in 2021/22, effectively resulting in the fixed establishment being reduced to 101 319.
Rambaran said these numbers did not reflect the impact of the unfunded 1.5% wage adjustment that was payable with effect from July 1, 2021.
Therefore a budget of R47.9bn was provided for the appointment of 205 769 employees, including PYEI.
“There is a decrease in educators from 90 000 to 85 554. We have to find another turnaround strategy. How do we continue with service delivery for this financial year? We will be limping along,” Rambaran said.
Daily News