Funza Lushaka graduates no longer prioritised for teaching jobs as thousands remain out of work

Graduates specialising in critical subjects such as maths, economics, accounting and languages are among thousands of teachers looking for jobs.

Some were state-funded during their studies, according to a list seen by Daily Maverick shared by United Unemployed Educators, a not-for-profit organisation representing their interests.

The Department of Basic Education and teacher unions brokered a deal on 11 June at the Education Labour Relations Council to stop prioritising Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme (Funza Lushaka) beneficiaries for teaching jobs to allow equal opportunities for other candidates.

This decision has been welcomed by United Unemployed Educators. Funza Lushaka was introduced in 2007. The Education Labour Relations Council is a bargaining council serving the public education sector.

Education Labour Relations Council general secretary Cindy Foca confirmed the amendment to the collective agreement entered into between the department and teacher unions in 2018.

Foca said the amended agreement ensured that “all first-time applicants who wish to enter the system will be treated the same, whether they are state bursary holders or not”.

United Unemployed Educators had been vocal about their plight, staging a protest inside Parliament in April.

This was after Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga revealed in March that there were 31,462 vacant teacher posts in South Africa.

Teacher vacancies in provinces

(Source: Department of Basic Education)

Unemployed teachers react

The latest protest was held by unemployed teachers at the KwaZulu-Natal education department headquarters in Pietermaritzburg on 14 June.

Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said teachers’ grievances have been addressed several times by way of explaining to them the processes followed to hire teachers, as well as the department’s fiscal constraints.

“Another point is oversubscription of specialisations that are not in demand in terms of the subjects,” Mahlambi said.

Maths and science subjects were in demand.

United Unemployed Educators indicated that the five provinces with the most unemployed teachers were KwaZulu-Natal (8,856), Gauteng (7,987), Eastern Cape (7,874), Western Cape (6,578) and Mpumalanga (6,545).

United Unemployed Educators revealed that there were fewer than 1,500 unemployed teachers in the Free State, Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape, combined.

“Eligible Funza Lushaka graduates in South Africa who are still yet to be placed in schools are 2,503 in total,” the organisation said.

These were in the Eastern Cape (485), Free State (172), Gauteng (529), KwaZulu-Natal (368), Limpopo (262), Mpumalanga (412), North West (91), Northern Cape (9) and Western Cape (175).

United Unemployed Educators indicated that challenges in the education system include:

• Poor monitoring of recruitment databases at the district education offices.


• Rehiring of teachers, who had resigned or retired before newly qualified graduates.


• Preference for Funza Lushaka beneficiaries (before the agreement to scrap such preference).


• Allegations of nepotism and selling of posts by department officials.


• Advertising of posts through bulletins (internal departmental adverts), newspapers and media platforms.


• Misalignment of teachers – those teaching out of their subjects and phase specialisation.


• Redeployment of excess teachers from one school to another due to dwindling learner numbers.


• Not fully implemented teacher-learner ratio of 30:1.

According to United Unemployed Educators, provincial education departments have indicated that they were hampered by budgetary constraints.

Provincial departments were also in the process of rationalisation (closing) and realignment (merging) of unviable schools due to declining numbers of learners.

United Unemployed Educators indicated that the Eastern Cape education department has responded to their plight by creating “educator internship” posts for at least 100 unemployed teachers.

The duration of the contract is 12 months (from April 2024 to March 2025) and their stipend amounts to R6,174.

“However, their duties, responsibilities and workload are those of a permanent teacher and we regard this as labour exploitation. We have informed teacher unions in the Eastern Cape and they know about this,” the organisation said.

Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima confirmed the programme and that it was targeting those with a Bachelor of Education degree.

He said they had only managed to secure funds that were equivalent to 100 internships.

There were 271 vacancies for principals, 126 for deputy principals and 584 for departmental heads.

The province has 1,502 teachers in excess and 729 have been placed in schools.

Enter the unions

National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA executive director, Basil Manuel, said they supported the cancellation of favouring Funza Lushaka graduates over other candidates.

“You must understand that when it comes to teacher training, the smallest number of teachers are trained via [Funza Lushaka]. There are far more trained via National Student Financial Aid Scheme bursaries, and yet even more are trained where their parents pay for them. These are taxpayers,” Manuel said.

Manuel said this was discriminatory and that unions demanded this should be changed.

The prioritisation of Funza Lushaka graduates, Manuel said, was also open to abuse.

“Allegedly, there were departmental officials who were playing their games of deceit and corruption by placing people in certain schools or offering posts to these people for a reward, and it was done very discreetly.”

Misalignment of teachers, he said, spelt disaster, especially in cases where those qualified to teach at the senior level in primary schools were hired to teach learners how to read in the junior phase.

He said these teachers were not qualified for that. This, he said, was prevalent in the rural areas.

South African Teachers’ Union spokesperson Ted Townsend said the Education Labour Relations Council tabled the matter for discussion in 2023.

He said they supported any means to attract aspiring teachers to the profession, especially in areas where there was the greatest need. These include the foundation phase and subjects such as science, technology, engineering, maths and languages.

South African Democratic Teachers’ Union spokesperson Nomusa Cembi said the amendment would level the playing field.

“Giving preference to [Funza Lushaka] holders was denying other newly qualified students equal opportunities of being hired into positions. This is an answer to our resolution at our 9th Congress in 2019,” Cembi said.

Their resolution stated that all bursary holders and non-bursary holders be categorised as newly qualified educators (first-time appointees) and be given equal employment opportunities, with reasonable requirements.

“We have been engaging with the department for quite some time to give equal opportunities to non-bursary holders because the children of educators fall within the ‘missing middle’ and therefore do not access the Funza Lushaka bursary. Their parents pay from their pockets and they end up not being prioritised,” she said. DM