"The 2021 budget provides a small amount of relief for education, but overall the cuts are going to hurt schools." Photo: Getty Images. When Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tabled the 2021 budget, there was slightly better news for education than in last year's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), but the overall story is still that the government is refusing to invest enough into quality teaching and learning for all. With last year's Supplementary Budget and MTBPS, Mboweni chopped away at basic education funding and infrastructure grants. Since October, Equal Education's (EE) learner, post-school youth and parent members have protested again taking to the streets outside Parliament to demand that government prioritise education, that the budget cuts be reversed, and that education be declared a frontline department in the fight against Covid-19.