8. Cost of the Teacher Education Programme

Teacher education at the colleges of education is a provincial responsibility (in 2000). There is an affiliation relationship between Edgewood and the University of Natal and the University offers the degree.

The salaries of the staff and the upkeep of the college are the responsibility of the provincial ministry of education. Students pay fees and registration of R5300 to the college and R100 is paid to the University of Natal as administration fee for awarding the degree. For every student that passes the year at Edgewood, the University of Natal receives the subsidy funding from the national department of education.

At the college the provincial department of education provides most of the salary costs. They provide some costs for maintenance of the college but are slowly reducing their involvement. For the most part the building maintenance and gardening services costs are paid from the college fees. The college fees are used to pay for the college running costs (books, stationery, library, and electricity).

Because student numbers have dropped, monies that are being taken in as fees and registration have decreased. The college feels that the department is doing less and less to maintain colleges and the financial situation at the college is dire. All funds collected by Edgewood are retained at the college. The college, with the approval of the Council, can spend these monies in any way. At the moment the college employs a few library and secretarial staff from these budgets. Other colleges in the province do not have the same level of autonomy as Edgewood and must submit the fees collected to the provincial department. If the college wants to buy something (e.g. library books) they then need to apply for permission to the department to buy the books.

The state pays twice for the students at Edgewood. There is the payment from the provincial ministry for the salaries and upkeep of the college and there is a payment from the national ministry for the state subsidy as each student passes each year. The following estimation of costs at the college refers to present costs and not to capital costs.

The salary cost per student works out to around R 27 494 per student and the SAPSE payment per student is R10 000⁸. Therefore the cost of training an Edgewood student per year is the sum of salary costs, fees and the subsidy payment to the University of Natal. This amounts to R27 494 + 5400 + 10 000 = R42 894. The estimated cost of training a science student at a university is around R30 000 per year. Therefore the cost of training a graduate at Edgewood is very high.

⁸ This cost was determined using the figures submitted by the University of Natal to the National Department of Education.

In looking at the costs at Edgewood it is difficult to comment on the cost per student for the year 2000 and the efficiency of training, because it is an anomalous situation and there are very few students. However an examination of the staff: student ratio indicates that it is much below the national norm. While Edgewood is an efficient training system with high completion rates, the cost of training teachers is very high. The analysis of the cost is of even more concern when we consider that the state spends around R150 000 per person over four years and then there is no mechanism to utilise the person in the state system.