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By Thebe Mabanga
The provinces that have delivered education budget votes, as well as those that have delivered their provincial budgets, reflect the persistent disparities in education across the country.
Early childhood development and the funding of teacher posts are top priorities across most provinces, with schooling infrastructure and investment in improving outcomes also receiving priority.
Most provinces have not delivered their education budget vote, and these will be adjusted once the new budget is delivered next Wednesday.
The Western Cape delivered its budget vote in April. The education department received the largest share of the budget at R33.2 billion, which is a 5.9% increase compared to last year’s budget.
MEC David Maynier described the department’s priorities as improving learning outcomes, expanding access to education, creating secure school environments, supporting vulnerable learners and ensuring sustainability.
The most pressing of these appears to be expanding access to education as the Western Cape is the fastest growing province in the country due to inward migration.
Maynier said this year, the province received 116,000 applications. It has allocated R 2,8 billion for schooling infrastructure to improve access by building new classrooms and supporting the growth of independent schools.
The province also has a highly successful programme called Back on Track, which has seen learner outcomes improve across a range of metrics. The programme received R322 million.
In Limpopo, the department of education was allocated R42.529 billion.
MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya described the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) as “the heartbeat of dignity and equity in Limpopo’s education system”. With an allocation of R1.8 billion, the programme feeds 1.4 million (78%) learners out of 1, 8 million.
She notes that the Education Infrastructure Grant “is the cornerstone of Limpopo’s mission to dismantle the spatial and structural legacy of apartheid”, with an allocation of R1.567 billion.
Gauteng’s allocation reflects the province’s status as the country’s most prosperous and receives R69.6 billion, and cumulatively R211.2 billion over the next three years.
“This is to be directed to expand access to quality basic education and early childhood development and improved education outcomes for women, girl, youth and persons with disabilities.” according to finance MEC Lebogang Maile.
The province is to also have a once-off allocation of R207 million in 2025/26 for the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, targeting the teacher assistant programme in the department. The hiring of assistants has proven to be a significant employment creator across the board.
Maile also notes that in terms of education infrastructure, it is anticipated that 13,436 jobs will be created on infrastructure projects in the medium term.
The Free State’s budget partly explains why it is the best performing province on the national matric pass rate for the past few years.
The provincial department received an additional amount of R93 million through the Performance Based Incentive System programme, which is managed by the National Treasury.
The incentive is for provinces that deliver infrastructure efficiently from planning to execution.
The province is further allocated R68.8 million for the implementation of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, specifically for the employment of the teacher assistants in the current financial year.
Overall, the education department is allocated R18.8 billion in 2025/26, and R59 billion over the next three years. Priorities include ECD, funding public schools, including special and independent schools, maths and science programmes and teacher development among others.
The combined health and education infrastructure budget for the province is R 59 billion.
Mpumalanga grapples with the reality that 83% of its schools are no fee schools, suggesting a disproportionately heavy reliance on the provincial fiscus. The education department also receives the largest share of the provincial budget at R28,8 billion.
The province allocates R 717,6 million to the e-learning programme from Grade 10 and R 1,8 billion over the medium term. School support over three years receives R 4,2 billion while teacher support receives R 1,1 billion.
The province allocated | R304.5 million over the MTEF is already in the baseline of the department for the construction of the School for the Deaf and Blind, while R103.4 million is added to the equitable share of the department for the recruitment of teacher assistants to support educators with various tasks in the classroom.
In the Eastern Cape, the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative plays a key job creation role. The programme is targeting to employ 6400 young people as educator assistants with a budget of R165.6 million in this financial year.
The province said it has been urged to employ more teachers. The education budget stands at R44.6 billion in 2025/26, or 49% of spending, and R138.8 billion over the next three years.
KwaZulu-Natal has seen its schooling infrastructure ravaged by floods in recent years and is acutely affected by the shortage of teaching posts. Its education department’s budget vote for 2025/26 is R62,9 billion, with 80% allocated to employee compensation.
The education infrastructure grant increases by R93 million to R2.5 billion. This also includes an incentive for the department to meet 84% of its infrastructure plans and delivery targets.
An additional R29.1 billion has been allocated to education towards addressing the budget pressures from the cuts of the last few years. KZN, like most provinces, has received allocation to cover the higher wage settlement of 2025 as well as the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, which will be used to employ 10,322 educator assistants in 2025/26 on a 12-month contract.
The National School Nutrition Programme, which attracted tender and funding controversy in recent years, received an increase of R33.3 million this financial year, to R2.3 billion.
Early Childhood Development grant increases by oR17.4 million to R308,6 million. This is to support the infrastructure component of this grant
The Northern Cape education department
“This is a significant allocation, and the department aims to address challenges like poor learning outcomes, access to education, secure school environments and supporting vulnerable learners,” the department said.
Lastly, the North West education budget stands at R1.9 billion, with allocations specifically for infrastructure and ECD as top priorities.
It is unclear what kind of impact the third national budget is going to have on the provincial education budgets, but many have pleaded for the sector, which has been facing austerity for the last 10 years, not to have to deal with further cuts.
INSIDE EDUCATION