As Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana prepares to deliver the much-anticipated Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday afternoon, uncertainty looms over what South Africans can expect. After Budget 2025 was postponed twice, many sectors are anxious for clarity, particularly education, where persistent funding shortfalls continue to impact learners and schools nationwide.
Equal Education researcher Sam Beynon says there is growing concern about the government’s diminishing commitment to education funding. “From our perspective, given that our focus is specifically on education, we’ve seen the declining share of education as a percentage of total government spending over the past five to ten years. In our view, this has been a deliberate policy choice, one that deprioritizes education funding over time,” he explained.
While government announcements often highlight nominal increases in education budgets, Beynon argues that these figures don’t reflect the true picture. “As much as we might hear announcements around nominal spending on basic education set to increase, when we look at real spending per learner, adjusted for inflation, we actually see a decline,” he said.
Beynon emphasized that meaningful investment is needed not only to maintain access to education but also to improve its quality and sustainability. “Government must prioritize the funding of education, not just in terms of access, but also by expanding the tools, mechanisms, and programs that support learning outcomes,” he concluded.
Education stakeholders now await the minister’s address, hoping for tangible commitments to address the sector’s growing financial pressures.
Listen to the full interview below:
VOC News
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