KZN DOE's funding crisis: 'R900m not enough'

Sadtu continues with work to rule protest

- THAMI MAGUBANE

THE R900 million pledged by the provincial government to tackle the funding crisis in the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department is insufficient to deal with all the outstanding issues plaguing the province's schools.

This is according to a political party and labour union who said yesterday that more funding was needed. One source claimed that an additional R700m was needed.

Last week, the provincial government committed to providing R900m for schools and for norms and standards funding after labour unions downed tools, which led to the disruption of exams at some schools.

There had been reports that, as a result of the failure to disburse the funds, some teachers have been using their own funds to pay for school operations. Some school principals have claimed they are borrowing money to run school operations. This failure comes amid concerns that the numerous budget cuts by the national government have crippled the department financially.

KZN Premier Thami Ntuli had said R900m has been secured to clear outstanding norms and standards payments, with disbursements to schools expected within three weeks.