Sadtu tells government to leave school funds alone and reduce politicians’ privileges instead

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) says it is against the cutting of funds for the school nutrition programme in Gauteng to save teaching jobs.

On Sunday, Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane announced that the province would be cutting its budget on school nutrition and scholar transport to save more than 3 000 teaching jobs.

Sadtu General Secretary Mugwena Maluleke on Tuesday told The Citizen that school nutrition and scholar transport are essential to the quality of learning in schools.

Access to quality education

“You cannot touch school nutrition and you cannot touch scholar transport, because the constitution says you must provide the best education.

“This includes issues of school nutrition, transport and infrastructure. If you touch one of them you are denying children access to proper education,” Maluleke said

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He proposed that government find other ways to reduce costs, such as cutting money unnecessarily spent on politicians.

Maluleke said politicians are given too many privileges. If reduced, it could save the state money, he added.

“They must cut all these allowances for executives and only pay their salaries. This also means cutting on the extra things for parliamentarians. It’s unacceptable to make children suffer,” he said.

Maluleke said cutting on the school nutrition programme would also lead to problems with the quality of food that pupils receive.

“This will create polarisation among the learners and a difference between those that have and those that don’t,” he said.

Fewer jobs for teachers 

According to Maluleke, Sadtu was planning to meet with the national education department concerning the budget cuts in various provinces.

The Western Cape Education Department (WECD) has announced that it would not be filling 2 400 posts because of budget cuts. The cuts will be effective from 1 January 2025.

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Maluleke said the budget cuts would result in teachers being unable to cope with large classrooms.

He said this could also cause problems for new teachers obtaining employment in public schools.

“This will lead to teachers being overloaded. It will lead to [fewer] new positions, while those that are in employment will not be touched,” he said.

‘School nutrition budget must remain untouched’

CEO of the School Governing Bodies Foundation (GBF), Anthea Cereseto, said the Gauteng Education Department (GDE) had to find funds elsewhere and not cut the school nutrition budget.

“Saving costs is important, but it cannot be funded with money intended to help children benefit from education,” she said.

She said a reduction in teaching posts would also compromise the quality of education.

“This will affect poor schools more because they cannot afford to pay additional staff,” Cereseto said.

She said funding must go towards education, health, and safety services. “Those are the essential services that people use.”

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube is expected to meet with the different MECs of education concerning budget cuts and teaching posts. She is also expected to meet with National Treasury.