National Government budget cuts affects WCGov's plan to build more schools

The Western Cape's Education Department (WCED) says it is struggling to place learners in school, blaming it on budget cuts by the national government.

In a statement, the WCED said R2.9 billion was budgeted to build 21 new schools and 289 additional classrooms at existing schools, to address the lack of education facilities, but that has now come to a halt.

PICTURE: Pixabay

MEC David Maynier said the National Treasury will give WCED 64% of the funding, which  results in a shortfall of R537 million.

‘’At the same time, the Department of Basic Education cut our conditional grants by R179.4 million: The Education Infrastructure Grant has been cut by R156.9 million; The Maintenance Component of the Early Child Development Grant been cut by R14.0 million; The Maths, Science and Technology Grant has been cut by R4.3 million; The HIV Grant been cut by R3.1 million; The Expanded Public Works Programme Grant has been cut by R207 000.’’

‘’In other words, the national government has dealt a massive R716.4 million blow to our ability to build and maintain schools, and pay teachers. And as a result, we face a R248 million cut specifically to our infrastructure budget within the financial year, he added.

Maynier said what makes matters worse is that the cut was made with immediate effect as it was made within the current financial year

‘’We are fighting to place learners despite massive R700 million blow to our budget Despite this blow, we are fighting hard to expand the number of places available at schools in the Western Cape.’

GRAPH: WCED

The MEC said his department will continue to build 9 new schools to accommodate the learners applying for the 2024 school year, as well as 496 classrooms in areas of high demand for placement.

‘’As always, we will be honest and upfront about the risks. We continue to battle those who seek to exploit, disrupt and criminally damage our school construction sites, and will not back down in our fight against the construction mafia.’’

‘’We will also have to cope with the delays caused by the unforgiveable budget uncertainty created over the past few months by the national government. Any delays in the availability of materials, or problems on build sites, will mean that classrooms might be delayed,’’ added David Maynier, Western Cape Education MEC.

 

Done by: Mitchum George