![]() “That then assumes that you’re not increasing the value of the subsidy at all, and we know that’s a problem… it’s been R17 since 2019, and there’s an erosion of its real value if you take into account inflation.” “If you look at what’s made available over the, you could potentially see an… up to 40% increase in the number of children subsidised - that’s from the base of around 625,000. ![]() “The two pillars of the policy objective for early learning are around access and quality, so there’s this tension around what you prioritise first, and the wording in the Budget… is around increases in access,” said Brooks. This represents a 51% year-on-year increase in funding for the ECD sector. The campaign for Real Reform for ECD welcomed the increase in the conditional grant for ECD, from R1.24-billion in 2022/23 to R1.88-billion in 2023/24, as a “step in the right direction”. The 2023 Budget shows significant increases in the budget for ECD, according to Laura Brooks, an economist at Ilifa Labantwana. In contrast to the broader basic education sector, early childhood development (ECD) is facing its first break from austerity budgeting in some time. The R13.8-billion allocation should allow provinces to build, repair and maintain school infrastructure, including in KwaZulu‐Natal and Eastern Cape where infrastructure has been damaged by flooding. SECTION27 welcomed the 11% increase in funding for the Education Infrastructure Grant in 2023/24. Schools will probably have to cut their budgets, which might mean cutting basic school support systems that schools themselves take initiative to provide,” she said. “In children’s schools… there’s going to be less money to provide basic feeding programmes. Read more in Daily Maverick : “ Still no national plan to address SA’s reading crisis as percentage of children who can read for meaning declines ” Moreover, South Africa continues to rank poorly in international metrics for reading and mathematics. The decline in spending on basic education is happening in a context where thousands of schools still don’t have access to basic infrastructure and services, according to Borman. We’ve seen that in most provinces for about five or six years now, and that continues again in this Budget,” said McLaren. “One of the areas of the Budget that has continued to receive decreases is school subsidies - that means the actual subsidy per learner going to each public school is being eroded by inflation… Those schools have less money for operating, maintenance, equipment, data school supplies, each and every year. SECTION27 condemned the real reductions to spending on programmes such as the School Infrastructure Backlogs Grant the HIV/AIDS Life Skills Grant the Maths, Science and Technology Grant and the Learners with Profound Intellectual Disabilities Grant, in 2023/24. ![]() Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigationsįunding per learner was therefore reduced from R22,552 in 2022/23 to R21,630 in 2023/24. This equates to a 2.4% reduction in education funding in real terms, once consumer price index inflation is factored in. ![]() Overall funding for basic education increased from R302-billion in 2022/23 to R309-billion in 2023/24 - a 2.5% nominal increase, according to SECTION27. “In terms of the per-user budget - so if you divide the health budget by every person who health sector and if you divide the education budget by every learner who receives public education - then you get a real-terms decline,” he said. ![]() Read more in Daily Maverick : “ Budget in a box ”ĭespite Godongwana’s claim in Wednesday’s speech that the 2023 Budget was “not an austerity Budget”, the austerity measures were evident in areas where allocations did not increase in line with consumer price index inflation, including health and education, according to Daniel McLaren, senior researcher and budget analyst at SECTION27.
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