Call to assist ailing school
THE school governing body at Summerfield Primary in Chatsworth is calling on the Department of Education to review its section status and quintile rankings as it struggles to meet its financial obligations due to unpaid school fees.
Added to its woes, is an outstanding utility bill of R330 000.
During a demonstration outside the Bayview school on Monday, the SGB threatened to shut the school down if the department did not intervene.
The school, which is ranked Section 21, receives about R105 000 a year in funding from the provincial department. This includes the school fee exemption costs.
The money is mainly used to pay utility bills and other running expenses.
The SGB chairperson, Dino Reddy, said the school was drowning in debt and needed to be classified as a Section 20 entity.
This would mean the department is solely responsible for the utility bill.
He said the outstanding bill had accumulated over three years to R330 000.
“We reached an agreement with the eThekwini Municipality. We were paying about R5 000 a month toward the outstanding amount, but it increased to R8 000, which we could not afford.
“We had hoped to receive about R30 000 from the department at the end of last month, which would have assisted us pay the bill. But, to date it has not been forthcoming.
“Parents don’t have R500 to pay for the annual fees. Even R30 a month is impossible for many.”
He said they also wanted the school to be changed from a Quintile 5 to a 3 ranking.
“Because the school has a wall and a tarred driveway, we are ranked Quintile 5, but the department needs to look at who we are servicing.”
Some of the families do not have piped water or proper ablution facilities, he said.
If the quintile was changed, the school would receive between R700 and R900 a child per year for the school exemption fees.
“We currently receive R179 a child per year. Unless there is urgent intervention by the department within the next two weeks, the parents will be forced to shut the school down.”
The department’s spokesperson, Kwazi Mthethwa, said: “We will continue to engage with the stakeholders to ensure the school does not go without lights.
“We want to assure the people of KwaZulu-Natal that the department is committed to ensuring that the process of teaching and learning is not disturbed.”