Over 30,000 teachers have left public schools in past five years

More than 30,000 teachers have either resigned or been dismissed from public schools over the past five years.

Gauteng has the highest number of teachers who have resigned, at 8,333, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 5,994 and the Western Cape with 4,700.

This was revealed by basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube in a written reply to parliamentary questions posed by Build One SA (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane.

According to the department, there were 30,995 resignations and 1,245 dismissals from 2020 to 2024.

Gauteng was also leading with the number of teachers who have been dismissed, at 298, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 295.

Gwarube said the department collected educator employment data through the personnel and salary system, which is managed by the provincial education departments (PEDs).

She said resignations among educators were influenced by factors such as retirement eligibility, career changes, migration to other sectors or countries, and workload pressures, while dismissals arose from disciplinary proceedings instituted in terms of the Employment of Educators Act.

“All cases of educator misconduct, including those related to sexual offences, absenteeism or financial misconduct, are required to be reported to the South African Council for Educators for further investigation and, where applicable, deregistration to prevent re-employment in the education sector,” Gwarube said.

“The DBE [department of basic education] continues to work with PEDs to strengthen human resource management systems, ensure timely disciplinary processes and develop retention and recruitment strategies to address teacher supply and attrition, particularly in priority areas such as the foundation phase; priority subjects such as mathematics, science and technology; and rural and under-resourced schools.”

Bosa spokesperson Roger Solomons said these numbers confirmed the extent of the teacher shortages, which parents, teachers and pupils experience daily.

“Classrooms are overcrowded and our teachers are overworked and underpaid. Burnout, lack of professional support and deteriorating working conditions are pushing educators out of the system faster than they can be replaced,” Solomons said.

He said the impact meant that more than 50% of primary school pupils were taught in classes of more than 40 children and about 15% were in classes exceeding 50.

“This places South Africa behind countries such as Chile, Indonesia, Morocco and Iran in teacher-to-learner ratios.

“Yet, despite this crisis, the department’s own national recruitment database lists at least 12,700 qualified, unemployed educators actively seeking work. It is completely unacceptable that trained teachers are sitting at home while learners are crowded into overstretched classrooms,” said Solomons.