11 000 EC teachers could lose their jobs

By Zandile Mbabela and Michael Kimberley

A PROPOSAL that more than 11 000 teachers in the province will have to lose their jobs next year because of a R3.4-billion shortfall is being considered by

Eastern Cape Education Department senior officials, including MEC Mandla Makupula.

The department has to finalise next year’s post allocation by September 28 and opposition parties have urged the department to beg, borrow or make a deal to secure the money.

Education committee members told Weekend Post they had been told by superintendent-general Mthunywa Ngonzo the department could potentially cut 11 287 – or 17.4%

– of teaching posts from the provincial system for the 2013 school year because of a shortfall of R3.42-billion to fund the existing 64 752 teaching posts.

The possibility of firing thousands of teachers was first discussed at a heated meeting in St Francis Bay on September 2 – attended by Makapula and senior education staff – and again

at the legislature’s education committee meeting. Outraged education experts warned the likelihood of the department sourcing the funding was "minimal at best” and that the axing of teachers would invariably cause an "uproar” among parents.

While

opposition parties and department officials confirmed the department was considering the move, Ngonzo denied that it was discussed in Bhisho.

"There is no such thing. I never said that [in the Bhisho meeting]. The indication

is that pupil numbers are going down and we know for a fact that there will be a budget cut,” he said.

Ngonzo did concede that 10 proposals had been put forward regarding next year’s teacher basket allocation as a result of budget constraints.

"The two critical driving factors are pupil numbers and budget availability.”

He declined to go into detail about the proposals. According to DA Shadow Minister for Education and MPL Edmund Van Vuuren, at the September 2 meeting in Cape St Francis, the issue of mass retrenchment was discussed at length.

"Senior officials from the department were there, including the MEC.

There were a number of proposals put forward but the bottom line is that unless the education department finds the money, these teachers could be without work,” he said.

He also insisted it was discussed in the legislature meeting – a claim that was supported by both COPE MPL Angela Woodall and Eastern Cape education specialist Ken Alston.

Weekend Post has also seen a portfolio committee workshop report, from the September 2 meeting, detailing the mass retrenchment.

A table on the "state of finances” shows if the department is not to have a negative impact on its budget next year, the "educator pool allowance” would need to be reduced by 11 287.

If the "status quo” remains the same, a R3.4-billion shortage is expected, the report reveals. Van Vuuren, said the cutting of teaching posts would force schools into a "dog fight”.

"There will be a feud about whose teachers should be cut from the system

...

it will be chaos,” he said.

Alston said the department was clearly in a "state of collapse”.

Education analyst Graeme Bloch said if the department went ahead with the axing it would spark a firestorm.

"Parents will be in uproar. It is a crazy, ridiculous and an unviable option.”

Researcher at civil rights non-government organisation Section

27, Daygan Eagar, said the department’s budget pressure dated back a decade. "I don’t understand why they would respond to their growing debt like this,” he said. "It would be a regression of services if the threat was carried out. It would have catastrophic consequences,” he said.

Both van Vuuren and Alston

said pupils would suffer the most from the department’s fiscal fiasco.

Added Woodall: "We appreciate the efforts to stabilise the budget, but this is not the way to go about it.”

"There are already instances of unfilled funded posts and department officials have admitted numerous times it is top heavy,” she said.

"The department needs to look at all its administrative posts and see which of those are really necessary.”

This is a shortened version of an article that appeared in the print edition of the Weekend Post on Saturday, September 22, 2012.