Following a recent boost in the provincial budget for the education sector, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has announced its plans to recruit new teachers this school year. Department officials have broken down how the process will be carried out throughout the course of the current school year.
The Department of Education in the Western Cape has recently announced that 1143 teaching vacancies have been made available for the 2023 school year.
The MEC for Education in the Western Cape, David Maynier further stated that the announcement came after the department concluded the initial part of its annual stakeholder consultations.
We have completed the first part of our stakeholder consultations for the year, and we are pleased to announce that we are now in a position to appoint up to 1 143 teachers in 2023.
Furthermore, the Employment of Educators’ Act’s regulations of the Annual Consultation process was followed when it was announced that the number of affordable positions for teachers will increase by 1 143 positions by 2023.
He added that with this enhanced budget, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will be able to add up to 1 143 more teachers to its existing roster of educators. As part of the stakeholder consultation process, the specifics of how these posts will be distributed are still being worked out.
“This is a much-needed boost to our system. In previous years, our budget has allowed us to only expand by as little as 6 additional posts, as seen in 2016, with increases thereafter” Said the MEC
The provincial education department went on to say that their recent budget increase will enable them to expand recruitment opportunities and provide quality education in the province. Below is a list of how much the department has been able to grow in terms of the number of teachers they have been able to hire in addition to the recruits it already had.
Year Basket Growth:
- 2016: 32 039 – increased by 6
- 2017: 32 320 – increased by 281
- 2018: 32 894 – increased by 574
- 2019: 33 436 – increased by 542
- 2020: 33 865 – increased by 429
- 2021: 33 865 – no decrease
- 2021: Adjusted 1 April 34 384 – increased by 519
- 2023: 34 974 – increased by 590
- 2023: Adjusted 1 April 35 274 – increased by 300
- 2023: 36 417 – increased by 1 143
Schools will be informed of their teacher allocation for 2023 once the department has concluded its engagements with education stakeholders over the distribution of the posts. This is expected to be announced by the end of August 2023, giving schools enough time to prepare for the 2023 school year.
