Teacher salaries must be cut in half

Economist Dawie Roodt said that teacher salaries in South Africa should be halved to double the number of teachers and demand higher performance standards.

Roodt shared his view on South Africa’s government efficiency and the public service during an interview with Ernst Roets at the Kragdag Conference.

He argued that South Africa’s public servants are overpaid, underworked, and ineffective, and are putting pressure on the economy.

“State employees represent 3% of the South African population but account for 17% of the economy in salaries,” he said.

“The core issue with the civil service is that while we actually need more police officers and teachers,” he said.

“However, they ought to be paid significantly less and required to deliver far better results than they currently do.”

“So essentially, you ought to halve the salaries of all teachers, double the total number of teachers, and expect more from them.”

Roodt emphasised that many teachers are hopelessly underpaid and overworked, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

“Overall, teachers in South Africa are overpaid and underworked, and there are too few of them,” he said.

“So, more money isn’t the issue. The real problem lies in the quality of output and, of course, better management.”

He explained that South Africa spends a large amount on education, but the quality of education is among the worst in the world.

“If you plot this on a scatter graph, you see that our spending is very high, but our quality is very low. We aren’t near the 45-degree line where most countries sit,” he said.

“We spend a lot on education and other items, but the quality is poor. That is the real problem, not money.”