The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has been given a deadline to come up with a plan on how to pay the money owed to schools and when to provide textbooks.
The order was issued by the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, after the teachers’ union in Sadtu province, took the Ministry to court demanding that it be forced to provide learning resources and pay for Norms and Standards in schools.
The Secretary of Sadtu, Ms. Nomarashiya Caluza, said that the court’s decision has restored hope as it forces the Department to meet the needs of students.
“We are happy with this decision which forces the Ministry to do what is right, to fulfill the things in the Constitution that affect children’s education. The court ordered the Ministry to bring its strategy to this court on how it plans to provide this money as well as the resources,” said Ms. Caluza.
He said this strategy must be taken to court on May 7, 2026.
“We hope that the needs of the students will come as expected. We are just fighting because we have seen that the right of the students to receive education is being violated,” continued Ms. Caluza.
He said that if the department goes against this order, it will mean that it is breaking the law.
“We are eagerly waiting for this strategy of the department because if you fail to meet the court’s order, that will mean breaking the law. We wanted you to be forced to provide for the needs of students as well as teachers,” he said.
For some time now, teachers’ unions have been fighting with the ministry over the issue of Norms and Standards. Every year the department fails to pay this amount on time. Some of the schools are still owed money from previous financial years because the department is unable to pay them.
Provincial schools were almost opened without resources this year. This was done because the department was unable to buy books and stationery. You end up buying stationery at the last minute after revealing that you don’t have the money to buy these supplies. Also, the fact that we finally got the stationery to the schools was helped by the company that distributes these books, Ndabase Printing, who bought the stationery on credit so that the students could get these resources.
Students were instructed to use old textbooks as the department said they would not have the money to buy them. This year too, there was a debate as to whether the department would be able to buy books because of the money.
Officials of the Department have always revealed that they are facing a shortage of money in the department. Even the provincial Premier Mr. Thami Ntuli, and the national MEC of the Department of Basic Education, Ms. Siviwe Gwarube, intervened in this problem but to no avail.