Johannesburg - The Gauteng Education Department under MEC Panyaza Lesufi received a major financial boost to fill critical posts and to allow teachers to cope with the growing number of learners in schools.
The cash injection was announced by Gauteng MEC for Finance Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko when she delivered her budget in the provincial legislature on Wednesday.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said over the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF), the Gauteng Department of Education would be receiving a total of R2.2 billion.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic had left a void that would need additional human resources to be employed to replace those who had been lost to the pandemic, and also to provide for additional growth posts as a result of the increase in the learner numbers in the province.
“Over the 2022 MTEF, an additional R2.2 billion has been made available to ensure that GDE is able to hire and replace educators post Covid-19 to ensure that the challenges of loss of capacity is restored and educators are appointed to continue to classroom-based teaching and learning,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
Earlier, she said the department had also been allocated R817.8 million to enable it to provide for personal protective equipment in public schools.
“This funding will aid in abating the spread of the virus in public schools and protect both learners and educators.
“Gauteng has about 2 210 public schools with more than 2.6 million learners, which represents a large community. Priority for this intervention will, however, mainly be towards those poorer and most vulnerable public schools within the Quintiles 1 to 3 and Quintiles 4 to 5 categories, respectively,” she said.
Nkomo-Ralehoko also said that the importance of market-related technical skills has become more important, particularly in the previously disadvantaged townships.
She said funding was made specifically for recapitalisation of these technical schools to enable them to offer market-related curriculum that is aligned with the 4th Industrial Revolution.
She said R157 million has been allocated over three years towards recapitalisation of township technical schools to revive these schools so that they were able to offer technical and engineering programmes.
“These will boost the skills that are in high demand and respond to the changing world of technology and the 4th Industrial Revolution,” she said.
The finance MEC also said that funds were allocated for the continuation and upscaling of the Gauteng e-Learning Strategy, which was a provincial policy priority that would further push ahead the province in leading the country in the use of technology in teaching and learning.
“Gauteng shall continue to be the national benchmark in as far as technology-based learning is concerned. To this effect, R1.2 billion has been allocated over the MTEF for increasing the number of devices, data and security,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
Political Bureau