Teacher crisis in South Africa – government responds

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) says there should be no concerns over a predicted teacher shortage in the coming years.

Recent research from Stellenbosch University’s Research on Socioeconomic Policy Unit (RESEP) shows that close to half (49%) of teachers employed by the DBE are 50 years or older and will be forced to retire in the coming decade.

According to Paul Esterhuizen, chief executive of education NGO School-Days, the department is not hiring an adequate number of teachers to replace those expected to be leaving the workforce, and school budgets are constrained, so they don’t have the capacity to hire new teachers.

The government also needs to make teaching more attractive for young people, with more livable salaries, Esterhuizen said.

RESEP’s research found that the average government teacher earned R42,688 per month in salary and benefits over the course of 2019.

According to Irene Pampall, a researcher at RESEP, many teachers believe they earn less than R42,000; however, they overlook added benefits.

Salaries are determined by level of qualification and experience. Pampall said that a teacher with a matric and four years of university education could expect to earn roughly R23,686 every month

A shortage of skilled teachers can lead to a number of problems, including overcrowded classrooms and a lack of individual attention for students – exacerbating fractures within an already stumbling education system.

Spokesperson for the department, Elijah Mhlanga, told SABC News that the research from Stellenbosch is not accurate and that there is actually an oversupply of new teachers.

He added that new teachers are emerging en masse, and it is a trend that is set to continue.

Mhlanga said, in contrast to these findings, that based on the profiles of the people that are employed by the government, measures have been put in place since 2007 to mitigate the ageing workforce.

He conceded that the department requires more funding to expand schools further and reduce class sizes, however.

“We don’t need more teachers, we need more funding,” he said.

However, RESEP’s research is not the only source sounding alarms over teachers in South Africa.

In July 2022, Julian Hewitt, the CEO of educator bursary programme, the Jake Gerwell Fellowship, said the department of education’s payroll shows that the country is expected to run out of skilled teachers, calling it “a looming crisis”.

The industry also faces the issue of a poor uptake in teaching, with it not being a career of choice, he said.

Statistics relating to higher education, put forward by the education facility Mancosa, also found that the supply of teachers is not meeting demand.

“More teachers are leaving than entering the profession. Currently, the country’s initial teacher institutions graduate 15,000 new teachers per year. This is below the 25,000 mark required to maintain an effective teacher-pupil ratio,” said professor Magnate Ntombela, principal of Mancosa.

Read: The biggest cause of South Africa’s education and skills crisis