Question No. 1846
Mr JRB Lorimer (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) Whether the Eastern Cape province have more than the standard allocation of school educators; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) how long has it had a surplus of educators, (b) what effect has this surplus had on results and (c) what has been the cost of this surplus in each year since it had the surplus;
(2) Whether this surplus of educators allow for smaller classes; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) Whether she has any plans in place to reduce the number of educators to conform to teacher allocation in other provinces; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. The national guideline with regards to the learner educator ratio (LER) is themaximum of 1 to 40 for primary and 1 to 35 for secondary schools. There is no guideline in terms of the minimum LER.
The average LER in the Eastern Cape Department of Education is currently at 1 to 30. The educator postallocations in the Eastern Cape Department of Education are in line with the budget as determined by the MECeach year.
(a) There are no surplus educators
(b) There are no surplus educators
(c) No surplus educators thus no cost
2. At this stage any surplus would not lead to smaller classes due to infrastructureconstraints.
3. The Eastern Cape Department of Education seeks to continuously conform to the national LER guidelines and to determine its post establishment in line with the approved national post provisioning norms and in consultation with labour unions. The Department of Basic Education is supporting the Eastern Cape Department of Education in this process.
Source: Department of Education
