Gauteng Education MEC, Lebogang Maile said Gauteng’s education system is grappling with deep structural pressures driven by rapid in-migration, overcrowding, weak foundational learning and constrained resources, even as the province records major post-apartheid gains in access and performance.
Speaking during a media briefing on Sunday, Maile said the challenges facing basic education in the province were “interlinked challenges shaped by structural factors rooted in historical inequality, socio-economic pressures, and delivery constraints,” with the situation “especially pronounced in the Gauteng Province.”
He said learner enrolment had increased since 1994, growing from 1,408,237 in 1995 to more than 2.8 million in 2026.
“Overall learner numbers have grown by more than 100 percent since 1995,” Maile said.
He added that the system continues to expand by about two percent annually, bringing in over 50,000 additional learners each year.
Despite this growth, Maile said Gauteng had made significant strides, including achieving near-universal access to schooling, reducing dropout rates and improving Grade 12 outcomes.
He attributed this to sustained government investment, noting that the provincial education budget had increased from R4.5 billion in 1995 to R70.9 billion in 2026/27.
This, he said represents a 1,476 percent increase over 31 years.
However, he cautioned that rising costs were eroding these gains.
“While nominal allocations in the education budget have increased, high inflation in educational materials and food for school nutrition have a direct impact,” he said, adding that budget pressures were limiting infrastructure expansion and staffing.
Maile said overcrowding remained one of the most urgent challenges, driven by population growth that continues to outpace school construction.
“Annual demand outpaces new school delivery,” he said, resulting in “severe overcrowding – often 60 to 70 learners per teacher in township and inner-city schools.”
The province, he said, faces a shortage of about 5,554 classrooms and needs at least 200 new schools to stabilise the system.
“Infrastructure supply has not kept pace with demand: only 48 schools were built or refurbished between 2015 and 2024,” Maile said.
Maile said the number of department-employed teachers has increased from 46,048 in 1995 to more than 71,209 in 2026, representing “an increase of over 55 percent.”
He added that despite this growth, continued enrolment increases require further appointments.
He said in the short to medium term, “about 1,173 posts are required to meet growth,” while “a further 2 333 posts will be needed to universalise Grade R.”
He added that shortages extended to basic resources, with the 2026 school readiness audit identifying major backlogs in desks and chairs. While procurement processes were underway, he said “funding remains insufficient to eliminate the backlog.”
Despite increased funding, Maile said the system is still under pressure, adding that “while the allocation has increased to over R68 billion, it remains insufficient relative to demand and inequality across schools.”
He noted that a rising wage bill was crowding out spending on infrastructure, maintenance and learning materials.
Maile also highlighted serious challenges in Early Childhood Development, following the transfer of the function to the department in 2022.
“The ECD sector is privately operated in Gauteng, with no public sites,” he said, pointing to unequal access, particularly for low-income families.
He said many ECD centres remain unregistered and unable to access subsidies. “Registration is slow and paperwork-heavy,” Maile said, adding that compliance requirements and coordination across departments often delay approvals for years.
Maile said the province faces a systemic crisis in literacy and numeracy, adding that “weak early-grade reading, comprehension, and numeracy create a silent crisis where learners progress without mastering basics.”
Although the province achieved a record 89.06 percent matric pass rate in 2025, Maile said this masked deeper problems.
“The statistics do not outline the challenge of broader poor performance in Grade 12,” he said, linking this to weak foundations laid in primary school.
He added that language barriers further compounded the issue.
“Many learners struggle with English as the medium of instruction, which impacts their ability to comprehend complex exam papers and express themselves clearly,” he said.
Teacher shortages and uneven quality were also identified as key constraints. Maile said the province faced “an estimated shortfall of 370 teachers in critical technology subjects,” alongside high demand for foundation phase and language educators.
He warned that overcrowding and teaching outside areas of specialisation were affecting classroom effectiveness.
“Large classes, often comprising of over 50 learners, contribute to burnout and limit individual attention,” Maile said.
He also raised concern about school safety and learner wellbeing.
“School safety and learner wellness are increasingly material risks to learning in Gauteng,” he said, citing violence, bullying, substance abuse and mental health challenges affecting schools.
Maile said the Gauteng Department of Education’s 2025–2030 Strategic Plan would guide efforts to address these challenges.
He said the plan focuses on integrating technology into the curriculum and promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the aim of ensuring that learning is relevant to the real world and prepares learners for future challenges and opportunities.
Maile said the department will engage various stakeholders as part of implementing the plan, including principals, school governing bodies, parents, communities, and partners across the public and private sectors, as well as civil society and other institutions.
“This will ensure that learning is relevant to the real world and will prepare our learners for future challenges and opportunities,” Maile said.
“We are committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning in Gauteng, but we recognise that as the provincial government, we cannot achieve this on our own,” Maile said.
He emphasised the importance of partnerships with the private sector, civil society and communities, as well as the role of the media in holding the department accountable, as the province works to strengthen its education system in the face of growing demand.
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Hope Ntanzi
iol.co.za
