Minister Schäfer calls on COSATU and partners to denounce defunding of education by the national government
25 October 2020
I note COSATU’s announcement that they will be holding a press conference regarding the challenges facing the WCED. I am pleased that COSATU and its associated organisations understand that there are challenges facing us. The most profound of these challenges – and indeed the one that underpins almost all others – is the continuous defunding of education in the Western Cape by the national government.
Once again, severe budget cuts threaten to wipe out many of our projects and programmes. A third of our infrastructure budget this year has been wiped out as a result of cuts to the Education Infrastructure Grant and expenditure on Covid-19 compliance measures, for which we have received no compensation from National Treasury. The cuts being demanded by the National Treasury for the next three years are nothing short of devastating.
The simple fact that must be understood is this: without a proper budget, we are unable to pay for all the things we need to deliver quality education to learners in this province.
Budget cuts mean we cannot build enough schools for the additional 18 000 learners added to our province’s schools each year, so there will be a major struggle to find school places every single year.