The education sector in the Western Cape is still grappling with the shock that more than 2,400 teachers face job cuts by January 2025.
Western Cape Education MEC, David Maynier has said it is fighting against budget cuts across all education departments.
In an outline of jobs affected in each education district in the Western Cape, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has given an outline of the number of posts to be reduced.
Cape Town will lose 1,674 teaching posts of which 444 are in the metro south, 462 in the metro north, 459 in the metro east, and 309 are in the metro central districts.
The department also confirmed the Cape Winelands will have 299 job cuts and the Eden and Central Karoo districts will see the loss of 200 jobs.
The Overberg and West Coast districts will each lose 117 jobs.
The WCED said all Special Needs Schools were protected from this process.
“There are more schools in the metro areas, than in the rural areas.
The formula determining how the total number of teaching posts gets divided between schools is prescribed by the national government, and takes into account class sizes, the workload of teachers, the size of the school, language, curriculum, poverty, and other factors,” the department’s Bronagh Hammond said.
“The WCED will be working closely with schools to determine which teachers will be affected. We are not firing teachers, and we are not retrenching teachers.
“The reduction in posts will mean that some contract teachers will not be reappointed after their contracts end on December 31, 2024, and some permanent teachers will be asked to move to another school where there is a suitable vacancy.
“We understand that this will result in difficult choices for our schools. We have been engaging with teachers’ unions in this regard over the past month, to ensure that they understand the reason behind this decision,” Maynier previously said.
He said the department is in this position due to being short-changed by the national government after receiving only 64% of the cost of the nationally negotiated wage agreement leaving the province to fund the remaining 36%.
“Despite implementing a drastic R2.5 billion budget cut, including on administration, curriculum, and infrastructure, we still face a R3.8 billion budget shortfall over the next three years. We are in an impossible position, and it is not of our making, and the Western Cape is not the only province affected,” Maynier said.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
IOL