The department said the severe budget cuts requested by National Treasury would further increase the challenges pupils in the province face.
CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is calling on the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and other organisations to denounce the defunding of education.
The department said the severe budget cuts requested by National Treasury would further increase the challenges pupils in the province face.
Education MEC Debbie Schafer said further decreases in funding would impact school placement, scholar transport, safety at schools and more.
Schafer said a third of the department’s infrastructure budget has already been wiped out, due to cuts to the education infrastructure grant and COVID-19 expenses.
“If these organisations are generally serious about solving the challenges we are faced with, they will join us in demanding that national government prioritise the education of our children over the continued looting of state-owned enterprises.”
Cosatu, the South African National Civic Organisation and other entities will hold a briefing on the matter on Tuesday afternoon.
The union’s provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn said: “We are willing to join and meet with them to see how we can address the problems and maybe then we can approach national government to see what we can do.”
