JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube said Wednesday that she has requested an urgent meeting with the country’s finance minister to discuss budget cuts that have left the education department grappling with a crisis.

Addressing the media in Pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, Gwarube said that further discussions are planned to secure additional funding for areas requiring financial support.

“We now have a clearer picture of where the most significant budget pressures lie and how we need to engage Treasury to address the challenges,” Gwarube said.

The request for a meeting comes after some provincial education departments, particularly in the Western Cape, announced plans to cut teaching jobs due to budget constraints. Gauteng’s education department also announced cuts to scholar transport and nutritional programs as a result of budget concerns.

“We must work together with all 10 treasuries to unlock additional funds to alleviate the pressures facing the education sector, even if it is just for the short term, and to prevent further cuts to teaching posts and critical support services like school nutrition and transport,” Gwarube said.

The minister added that cross-departmental budget reprioritization is being considered, reallocating funds from departments with underperforming programs to ensure funding is directed to national priorities.

With South Africa’s national debt standing at 4.73 trillion rand (about 275 billion U.S. dollars), the National Treasury introduced budget cuts in August 2023, requiring government agencies to reduce spending by 15 percent to help repay the country’s debt.

“We are facing a looming national crisis, one that affects not just our learners, but also our teachers, principals, and broader communities. Provincial education departments will find it increasingly difficult to fund their existing staff and programs within the available budget in the next two to three years unless proactive measures are taken to mitigate this risk,” Gwarube said.

For the 2024-2025 financial year, basic education was allocated 324.5 billion rand, with additional funds for teacher salaries. However, concerns were raised over Cabinet-approved reductions of 2.8 billion rand over the medium term, including cuts to the school infrastructure budget.

Gwarube highlighted a critical issue in the education sector: despite an increase of almost 300,000 pupils nationwide in the current academic year, education departments are struggling to hire enough teachers. This shortage is expected to impact the quality of education, particularly in under-resourced schools.

Mugwena Maluleke, general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, expressed optimism about the upcoming meetings with the education and finance ministers, hoping for positive outcomes.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Maluleke said, the education sector has been burdened by a growing student population but a shortage of teachers. “This imbalance is putting immense pressure on the education system. These are issues we deal with daily, and we believe they can be resolved if we sit down and talk,” he said.