Cape Town - Teaching posts at Western Cape schools will not increase in the 2017 academic year despite about 25 000 new pupils entering the province this year.
Saying a crisis was looming, teacher unions are warning that the poorest schools will be hit the hardest because, unlike their wealthier counterparts, parents do not have the money to fund extra teaching posts.
Union leaders also expressed concern about how the decision would affect the workload of teachers and ultimately the quality of education in the province.
Jessica Shelver, spokeswoman for Education MEC Debbie Schafer, said the department was facing severe budgetary constraints and the fact it managed not to cut the number of posts was a remarkable achievement.
She said nationally negotiated wage increases, which were well above the rate of inflation, had resulted in a funding shortfall of about R224 million on personnel expenditure.
"After having already cut costs in various areas of our budget last year it was immediately evident that this year was going to be even more difficult. With the R224m budget deficit for personnel, we were looking at a decreased post basket of 587 posts compared to this year," she said.
"After considering all areas of spending that were not already committed, and after painstaking consultations with the relevant directorates on spending in various areas, the Western Cape Education Department managed to avoid having to cut the basket this year. Therefore the basket will remain at 32 039 posts."
She said that by March the number of new pupils entering the province this year stood at 24 944.
"We are also concerned with the number of learners coming into the province next year and the strains that this puts on an already strained budget. To accommodate all these learners requires 22-24 schools and more than 700 educators. We must be cognisant of the fact that the large number of inward migration to this province does have massive financial and planning consequences, impacting on the provisioning of education resources and the overall management of the system."
She said the department was working with schools to better manage pupil timetables, and to cut excess staff so the distribution of teachers was fairly allocated.
"But it is very likely that class sizes will increase."
It is projected the teacher-to-pupil ratio in the Western Cape, which currently stands at 1:34.63 would increase to 1:35.17.
Moses Standaar, provincial chairman of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa, said the union had serious concerns about the impact the decision not to increase the number of posts would have.
He said one of the major concerns was how the decision would affect the workload of teachers, especially in areas which receive many new pupils.
"It will affect the quality of education."
He said school governing bodies at wealthier schools would be able to fund extra posts at their school, but schools that did not charge any fees would not be able to do the same.
Cape Argus