MANKONI NTSABA: Education system as much a threat to our future as Eskom and national debt

While the finance minister’s budget speech addressed many critical issues affecting SA, it was concerning that it paid so little attention to one of the biggest threats facing the country — the failing education system and the inadequacy of the budget allocation for 2023/2024.

The budget speech recognised the dire energy crisis the country faces by introducing a debt-relief arrangement for Eskom. We are fully aware of the knock-on effect of load-shedding across all sectors, but there does not appear to be enough recognition that the state of our education system is as much a threat to SA’s future as Eskom and the country’s enormous debt.

Across the country, especially in rural areas, the education system is struggling, with many children receiving inadequate education in poorly equipped schools that lack basic infrastructure. Making things worse is that this situation is not new and is not improving. Millions of pupils, teachers and communities lack resources and support to prepare children for a future that will demand basic skills if they are to contribute meaningfully to economic growth.

Last year basic education minister Angie Motshekga indicated that 1,423 schools still had pit latrines. As recently as 2021 there was no reliable electricity in 3,343 of 23,276 schools, while 5,836 had only intermittent water access. It was also reported that 20% of schools do not have a laboratory, and only 42% boast a computer centre, while two thirds do not have libraries.

During 2022 the department of basic education developed a draft Education Bill and called for input and comment before it could be finalised. One of the thorny issues in the bill was the proposed removal of deadlines on the minimum uniform norms and standards for public school Infrastructure. The current policy imposes deadlines for improvements to the infrastructure at schools, including electricity and water supplies, classrooms, fences and libraries. These deadlines also cover the eradication of pit latrines.

Urgent improvements to school infrastructure remain a non-negotiable concern that calls for higher budget allocations. The Centre for Risk Analysis has reported that of the 1,074,788 children who started grade 2 in 2012, just 580,555 passed with a senior certificate in 2022. That represents an actual matric pass rate of about 54%. This percentage should be part of the conversation when it comes to the country's budget plans for education.

There were some positive developments in the budget, such as an increase in the national school nutrition programme and additional funding for early childhood development (ECD). This forms a vital part of our district whole schools development programme, which aims to overcome the gaps in the education of our children to prepare them for school by ensuring learning outcomes, class-appropriate competencies and childhood cognitive development.

While we look forward to an increase in funding for ECD, the various challenges mentioned above show the reality that there is still far more to be done to change the current course of our education. Despite our efforts and those of many organisations and individuals who contribute and collaborate to improve matters, it also takes support and financial input from the government to make a long-term sustainable impact.

Under these circumstances, is R293.7bn enough to tackle all the challenges within basic education? The 2023 budget represents a 2.5% nominal increase on the previous year, but when factoring in inflation it amounts to a 2.4% reduction in education funding in real terms. Funding per pupil was reduced from R22,552 in 2022/2023 to R21,630 in 2023/2024.

While advocating for a budget increase, we recognise the additional obstacles the education system faces in terms of budget management, including instances of underspending and misallocation of funds. To ensure the effective use and management of the budget it is necessary to allocate funds to intervention strategies that involve monitoring and evaluating infrastructure, as well as following up on implemented measures. This will prevent infrastructural collapse and mitigate cases of budget underspending, such as the Limpopo education department's staggering underspend of R523.3m, the Western Cape’s underspending of R556m and the Eastern Cape’s underspending of funds given to it for the education infrastructure grant.

It is essential to prioritise infrastructure monitoring to avoid costly reconstruction from scratch. We are faced with circumstances such as students at Lamulelani High School new Hazyview, Mpumalanga, who must be taught under a tree due to large parts of the school having been burnt down during a community protest in 2017. The school has still not been rebuilt by the education department.

Overcrowded classrooms

In addition to addressing infrastructure needs, intervention strategies should consider numerous other educational challenges the system is facing that affect productivity, such as overcrowded classrooms, the need for more teacher training and development and the high dropout rate of pupils. With so many challenges it is important to explore solutions that ensure the retention of both teachers and pupils in the long term.

The budget speech mentioned that eradicating poverty and inequality is as urgent today as it was at the dawn of our democracy nearly 30 years ago. One of the steps towards achieving this is acknowledging the severity of poverty and inequality within the education system. The next step is to prioritise the problem and budget accordingly, to close the divide in the sector.

We urge the government to prioritise education and allocate the necessary resources to ensure that every child in the country has access to quality education. It should also be mentioned that such budgets must be used according to plan, to avoid underspending when there is so much need.

Failing to fix the education system will have dire consequences for the country's future economic growth and development.

• Ntsaba chairs the Kagiso Trust