Government

R4,400 pain for teachers in South Africa

Malcolm Libera

 ·1 Oct 2024

Over the past five years, pay hikes for most government teachers in South Africa have been below inflation, meaning they have been underpaid by R22,000 over the period, or R4,400 annually.

The Department of Basic Education in South Africa releases an annual salary adjustment report that outlines the salary notches for teachers across the country.

These salary scales vary significantly depending on qualifications, years of experience, and seniority within the education system.

At the lower end of the scale, a teacher may earn as little as R154,671 per year, while at the upper end, a teacher could earn up to R1.209 million annually.

Currently, the South African public education system employs about 410,000 teachers spread across 25,000 schools.

A teacher’s basic salary is primarily determined by the salary scales published in the Government Gazette.

These scales consider the teacher’s qualifications and years of experience, with teachers entering the profession at a specific notch based on these factors.

For example, a teacher with a matric certificate and four years of university education would typically enter the system at Notch 164 and earn a starting annual salary of R333,624.

As teachers gain experience and meet minimum performance standards, they move up in salary notches each year, resulting in incremental salary increases.

Therefore, older teachers with more experience tend to earn higher salaries than their younger, less-experienced counterparts, even if they possess the same qualifications.

Promotions also play a significant role in salary progression, with department heads, deputy principals, and principals earning significantly more than regular teachers with equivalent qualifications.

This system of salary adjustment creates substantial differences in income levels based on job position and seniority.

Most teachers in South Africa fall under the Relative Equivalent Qualification Value (REQV) 14 category, which represents the minimum level of education required to be registered as a fully qualified professional teacher with the South African Council of Educators (SACE).

According to the central payroll system (Persal), approximately 66% of the country’s teachers possess REQV 14 qualifications.

For these entry-level teachers, salary adjustments over the past five years have not kept pace with inflation.

In 2019, the Government Gazette indicated that an entry-level teacher with a matric certificate and four years of university education earned R278,640 per year or about R23,220 per month.

By 2024, this salary had increased by 19.7% to R333,624 per year, or R27,802 per month.

However, inflation during the same period rose by 27.6%, meaning that, in real terms, these teachers should have been earning around R355,545 annually, or R29,628 per month, to keep up with the rising cost of living.

This discrepancy translates to a shortfall of R21,921 (or approximately R4,400 annually), meaning that while teachers’ salaries have technically increased, their purchasing power has significantly diminished over the past five years.

Despite this erosion in real wages, teachers in South Africa do receive several additional benefits that somewhat cushion the impact of lower salary increases.

State-employed teachers are entitled to an employer pension contribution equivalent to 13% of their basic salary, as well as a thirteenth cheque at the end of the year.

Teachers who join the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) also benefit from a medical aid subsidy, and those who rent or own property are eligible for a housing allowance of about R1,500 per month.

These benefits provide a degree of financial stability, though they do not entirely offset the financial losses incurred due to below-inflation salary hikes.

The full gazette with all salary notches can be read here.

Tough times

The issue of below-inflation salary increases is symptomatic of a larger crisis facing the South African education system: a bloated wage bill.

Experts have long warned that the government’s growing wage bill is unsustainable, and the consequences of this are now beginning to emerge.

Provincial education budgets across the country are under severe strain, threatening thousands of teaching posts. KwaZulu-Natal, in particular, faces the harshest budgetary constraints.

The expanding wage bill, which now constitutes over 80% of education spending in several provinces, is a key driver of the current funding crisis.

With so much of the education budget devoted to salaries, there is very little left for critical needs like infrastructure, classroom resources, and hiring new teachers.

Despite annual salary increases for teachers, the lack of corresponding increases in overall budget allocations has resulted in widespread teacher shortages.

These shortages are placing increasing pressure on the existing workforce, exacerbating already challenging working conditions.

The Department of Basic Education has acknowledged the seriousness of this issue but is grappling with how to balance the need for competitive teacher salaries with the financial realities facing provincial budgets.

For now, the education system is being forced to make do with limited resources while teachers bear the brunt of wage increases that do not keep up with inflation and shrinking funding for essential services.

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