Limpopo MEC for Education Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya dismissed claims that there is a teaching crisis in Limpopo.
This comes after the DA in Limpopo wrote to the MEC to establish why there is a large number of teaching vacancies in the province and when these will be filled.
“These vacant posts deprive our learners of quality education and result in schools being overcrowded and understaffed.”
“The failure of Limpopo’s Department of Education to fill vacant teaching posts weakens our entire education system and negatively impacts learners’ opportunities to excel academically, significantly reducing their prospects for tertiary education and employment. Limpopo already has an expanded unemployment rate of 46.7%,” stated the DA statement.
The DA claimed that Limpopo currently has 4,933 vacant teacher posts.
The MEC refuted the statement as misconceptions and potential misinformation, stating that the DA ignored the most critical part of the Minister’s response.
“The Minister stated that there are 31,462 teacher vacancies in the country, meaning in all Provincial Education Departments (PEDs). The figures provided in brief were Kwazulu-Natal – 7,044, Eastern Cape – 6,111, Limpopo – 4,933, Western Cape – 4,497, and Gauteng – 3,898, to name a few. This information was sourced from PERSAL, the personnel salary management information system of government, at the time the response of the Minister was crafted.”
“PERSAL recognizes vacancies as posts not occupied and posts not permanently filled. This means so long as the post is not having a permanent incumbent, that post will be classified by the system as vacant, even if there is a temporary appointment against it. The temporary appointment is not in the post but against the post because the temporary post is coded differently from the permanent post.”
The MEC said the statement confirms that all Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), including Limpopo, do not face a scenario where students go untaught due to unfilled permanent positions.
“There is no deprivation of quality education to learners in Limpopo as the DA claims. The Limpopo Department of Education does not have a situation where learners are without teachers due to PERSAL-recorded vacancies. As stated in the Budget Speech for 2024/25, the department will advertise 2,550 School Management Team (promotion posts) posts to permanently fill these posts, which are currently occupied by temporary educators as earlier stated.”
The advertisement will be published in the coming week.