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“We Are Not Okay”: Teachers in South Africa Burn Out Under Weight of Staff Shortages

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3 months ago

June 10, 2025

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Educators are waving a red flag over a growing crisis: underpaid, overworked, and overlooked.

The school bell rings across South Africa each morning, but behind those classroom doors, a silent crisis is unfolding. Teachers are burning out—mentally, emotionally, and physically as schools buckle under the pressure of crippling staff shortages and chronic underfunding.

Thousands of teaching posts have been slashed across provinces, leaving those who remain to carry a load that’s becoming unbearable. The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and the National Teachers’ Union (Natu) say this is no longer just an education issue it’s a national emergency.

Austerity Has a Human Cost

While most conversations about education focus on results and rankings, unions are shifting the spotlight to those responsible for producing them—teachers. According to Natu, over 23,000 posts were cut during the 2023/24 financial year, and more than 46,000 funded vacancies remain unfilled in provincial departments.

Sadtu isn’t mincing words either: budget cuts have ballooned class sizes, eroded learning quality, and are “putting lives at risk.” Teachers are buried under admin tasks, deprived of backup when colleagues are off sick, and constantly playing catch-up in overcrowded classrooms.

In one heartbreaking insight, Sadtu revealed that 44% of Grade R–12 teachers report feeling “always or very often” burned out, with the figure soaring to 55% among female educators. These are more than just statisticsthey are cries for help.

“I Mark Until Midnight”: Life in the Trenches

Teachers speaking anonymously told The Mercury what their day-to-day looks like. A Grade 5 teacher in Gauteng says lesson planning, grading, and class prep eat into her nights and weekends. Meanwhile, a high school teacher in KwaZulu-Natal says his classes have doubled in size, making it nearly impossible to give each learner proper attention.

For one teacher, things hit a new low when he had to teach a class of 90 pupils. Discipline flew out the window, he said, and trying to grade that many assignments was “like swimming upstream.”

An Education System Stretched to Breaking Point

Doctor Ngema of Natu was blunt: “The South African education system is in a state of crisis.” Years of underfunding have left classrooms crumbling, toilets broken, and basic resources in short supply.

The post-provisioning norms, meant to balance teaching loads, are routinely ignored. The result? Overworked teachers doing three jobs in one: educator, administrator, and substitute.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the situation is especially dire. Thirona Moodley, CEO of Naptosa in the province, said the department has simply “collapsed.” Schools aren’t receiving financial allocations, there are no substitutes, and the education department has gone worryingly silent.

It’s Not Just the Teachers Who Suffer

A retired principal pointed out that when teachers are overwhelmed, learners fall through the cracks. The ideal teacher-student ratio of 1:28 is a distant dream. In reality, some classrooms are operating with 1 teacher to over 50 students.

He warned that these conditions aren’t just bad for education, they could lead to more pupils dropping out. “Weak learners get left behind, average learners struggle to excel, and even strong performers can’t reach their potential,” he said.

Public Reactions and Unanswered Questions

On social media, teachers and parents are voicing solidarity and outrage. “Our kids can’t learn in chaos,” one parent posted on X. “Teachers are heroes. But even heroes burn out,” wrote another.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education acknowledged the problem, admitting that some issues stem from national-level decisions. It promised to roll out a wellness programme for teachers this week. But there was no comment from the national Department of Basic Education (DBE) at the time of writing.

Time for a Wake-Up Call

What’s happening in South African classrooms is more than a staffing problem. It’s a mirror reflecting the broader economic and political choices of our time. Austerity may balance books on paper but it’s coming at the cost of real human lives and futures.

The question now is simple: how long can we ask teachers to hold up the country’s future before they collapse?

The answer, according to educators across the country, is “not much longer.”

If you’re a parent, educator, or policymaker, now is the time to speak up. Teachers aren’t just teaching, they’re holding together the last threads of a fraying system. And they need all of us to stand with them.

Need Help?

If you’re a teacher struggling with burnout or mental health issues, consider contacting: