The government has added R19.1 billion over the medium term to keep approximately 11 000 teachers in classrooms.
“Our learner-teacher ratios remain higher than we would like, meaning that we still need more teachers in classrooms,” Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana said on Wednesday in Parliament.
According to the Minister, paying salaries constitute 76% of provincial education budgets.
“This means that only R24 out of every R100 of their budget is left for funding school infrastructure, meals for learners from poor backgrounds, and stationery and textbooks, amongst others.
“To prevent compensation of employees from crowding out other equally important areas of spending, R19.1 billion is added over the medium term to keep approximately 11 000 teachers in classrooms,” the Minister said during the Budget Speech.
He said the foundation to building the next generation of citizens who contribute economically and socially to the nation is in early childhood development (ECD).
“Despite this, the subsidy for ECD has not increased from the 2019 level of R17 per day, per child. To remedy this, an additional R10 billion over the medium term is allocated to increase the subsidy to R24 per day per child. The extra funding will also support increased access to ECD for approximately 700 000 more children, up to the age of four years old.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Higher Education is implementing a pilot student funding model for the “missing middle”, which refers to students from families with annual incomes ranging from R350 000 to R600 000.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme will manage these loans using funds provided by the National Skills Fund, amounting to R1.5 billion in 2024/25 and R3 billion over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.
“The apprenticeship and skills development levy systems will be reviewed. The goal, in collaboration with the private sector, is to double the number of artisans completing trade tests in the next three years through increased work-based learning opportunities.
“The arts, culture, sport and recreation sector is allocated R38.4 billion over the medium term to support school sports, national recreation events and selected sporting codes, as well as to preserve and promote the cultural, heritage and linguistic diversity of South Africa,” Treasury’s 2025 Budget Review document noted.
Health
Health spending will grow from R277 billion in 2024/25 to R329 billion in 2027/28 to support the equitable provision of public health services, including free primary healthcare.
“Like in provincial education, a significant portion of the provincial health budget is spent on the salaries and wages. R28.9 billion is added to the health budget, mainly to keep about 9 300 healthcare workers in our hospitals and clinics.
“It will also be used to employ 800 post-community service doctors, and to ensure that our pharmacies do not run out of medicines,” the Minister said.
National Health Insurance (NHI) policy
As part of strengthening the health system and preparing for the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy, the Department of Health will fund the development of a patient information system, a centralised chronic medicine dispensing and distribution system, and a facility medicine stock surveillance system.
Over the MTEF period, the indirect and direct conditional grants for NHI are allocated R8.5 billion and R1.4 billion respectively.
“Sustained allocations for direct and indirect infrastructure grants, including potential additional funding through the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI), as outlined in the 2024 MTBPS, will focus on new or replacement buildings, upgrades, rehabilitation and maintenance.
“The total infrastructure allocation is R37.4 billion over the MTEF period, including provisional allocations from the BFI and new allocations for Siloam District Hospital and Tygerberg Hospital equipment through a public-private partnership in 2027/28,” National Treasury said. -SAnews.gov.za
