Question NW1076 to the Minister of Basic Education
08 May 2018 - NW1076
Tshwaku, Mr M to ask the Minister of Basic Education
With reference to her reply to question 1009 on 12 April 2018, (a) what amount of the provincial department’s budget is returned to it by schools who have teaching vacancies and therefore do not require the allocated teacher salary budget and (b) for each school, what (i) number of posts is vacant, (ii) number of learners are at the school and (iii) is the monetary value of the funding returned?
Reply:
a) The budget for teacher salaries or compensation is not allocated to individual schools. A basket of posts is determined at Provincial Education Department (PED) level and such posts are then distributed to schools through the post provisioning model. In the event of underspending, funds are returned to the provincial Treasury.
b) Vacancies at schools occur throughout the year due to natural attrition. Post Level 1 (PL1) vacancies are generally filled as soon as they occur. Promotional posts (Principal, Deputy Principal and Head of Department) are advertised in terms of the regulations and are filled as soon as practically possible, usually within 3-6 months. However, acting appointments are made as soon as vacancies occur.
(i) The Department does not routinely track every vacancy, but receives and reports on the total number of vacancies on a quarterly basis.
(ii) As indicated in (i) above, the Department does not track school level detail regarding vacancies.
(iii) As indicated in (a) above the budget for compensation of educators is not allocated to schools.