Report cards being ‘held hostage’

PRINCIPALS in the province are so desperate to keep their schools functioning that they are “holding report cards hostage” in an attempt to get parents to pay fees.

Following Education MEC Debbie Schäfer’s comments this week that the practice of refusing to release pupils’ reports because of outstanding fees would not be tolerated, National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA (Naptosa) president Basil Manuel said schools “found themselves between a proverbial rock and a hard place”.

“The reality is that some schools do withhold reports because of outstanding school fees,” Manuel said.

“Schools are battling to collect fees from parents and not giving the child’s report is just one way of getting parents to pay.

“It is wrong and illegal, and schools are desperate because they also have bills to pay.”

Schäfer said her office had received complaints from parents last year that schools had refused to release their children’s reports because the parents had not paid outstanding school fees.

There was also a trend of schools asking parents to physically fetch reports at schools and then using the opportunity to discuss outstanding fees.

But schools denied that they were withholding report cards for that purpose, Schäfer said.

Manuel said some parents were also wrong in requesting that they be granted a concession at the end of the year.

Last year the provincial Education Department provided about R44 million to 786 schools for parents who could not afford to pay fees.

Schäfer’s spokesperson, Jessica Shelver, said the provincial Education Department did not keep a record of the number of schools who reportedly withheld reports.

“As when we received these reports at our districts, our primary concern is to ensure that the matter is dealt with swiftly to ensure that the pupils receive the report cards timeously,” Shelver said.

National Governing Body Foundation chief executive Tim Gordon said schools and principals had known for years that it was illegal to withhold pupils’ reports because of outstanding fees, and that it was a minority of schools which did so.

The foundation represents about 700 schools in the country.

“Some schools might only give the reports to pupils who do not have outstanding fees and then call in the parents of those who have outstanding fees. That is also wrong.

“Withholding reports because of outstanding fees is illegal,” Gordon said. francesca.villette@inl.co.za

@FrancescaJaneV

‘Some parents were also wrong in requesting a concession at the end of the year’