Badly managed bursary scheme puts teacher targets at risk
A reply to a DA parliamentary question received from Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga reveals that 65% of prospective teachers whose studies were funded through the government's Funza Lushaka bursary scheme end up not being placed by the department within three months.
Non-placement within three months has serious consequences as it releases the bursars from their contracts. In terms of the contracts, graduates that benefit from the finances for studying would have to be placed and teach at schools for a period of four years. Poor planning has seen this resource fundamentally under-utilised with teachers not being placed within time resulting in the waste of precious education resources and tax payer money.
The poor management of this scheme is evidenced by its dismal placement rates. Over the last three years, placement rates within three months were as follows:
2009 cohort: 31% placed
2010 cohort: 41% placed