Education department pays R84m to cover school fees

THE Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has paid R84 million to schools to assist pupils who cannot afford to pay school fees in the 2022/23 financial year.

As the school year comes to an end, so does the process of redeeming proceeds from outstanding fees.

Department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the province had over 1 446 public schools, ranging from fee paying and non-fee paying schools.

Hammond said often schools could have a mediation process with parents when fees were outstanding and that those who could not afford to pay fell into different categories and criteria.

“The WCED does encourage parents to pay school fees, where possible. Parents who are unemployed can apply for fee exemption,” she said.

“It is important that parents do fill in these forms if they qualify, as these forms are then sent to the WCED by schools when applying for fee compensation.

“A learner is exempted from paying school fees if he or she is: an orphan or has been abandoned by his or her parents; a learner for whom a poverty-linked state social grant is paid; or a learner whose parents applied for an exemption from the payment of school fees which was granted by the governing body.

“Parents qualify for exemption if the school fees are more than 10% of the parents’ combined annual salary,” Hammond said.

They could apply for partial exemption if the fees represented between 2% and 10% of their annual salary depending on the number of children they had at a fee-paying, public school.

Schools cannot withhold a report card due to non-payment of fees.

“However, schools can request that parents collect the report card from the principal or school management. This gives them the opportunity to discuss outstanding school fees and possible payment arrangements,” Hammond added.

“In some cases, schools want to discuss the return of textbooks, or even raise concerns regarding the learner’s academic record the past year.

“There is nothing illegal about this. It is also understandable that some schools would want to discuss non-payment of fees given the financial circumstances schools find themselves in.

“After this discussion, a school cannot refuse to hand over the report card. If the parent still maintains that a child’s report is being withheld, the parent can contact the district office.

“We would like parents to try and settle their outstanding fees, if they are in a position to do so. All learners should also return their textbooks as required.”

Simon Lee of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (Isasa) said they were not in possession of the financial books of institutions and could not provide statistics on how many schools had fees arrears.

“Regarding non-fee-paying schools, the vast majority of these are public rather than independent schools, although Isasa does have a few no-fee schools as members .

“These schools are generally supported through donations or the help of a patron.

“In terms of Section 25 (12) of the National Protocol on Assessment 2011, a school (public or independent) may not withhold a report card for any reason, including non-payment of fees. This does not preclude a school from recovering fees through other means, such as debt collection.”

The South African Human Rights Commission’s Andre Gaum said education was a basic right and if a child was at a public or private school, there was to be no negative impact on their education if fees were outstanding.

“The South African Human Rights Commission has always held that the right to a basic education is immediately realisable and should not be conditioned on fees. This also goes for the issuing of progress reports. Further, it is the view of the commission that the very existence of ‘no-fee’ schools and fee exemptions on fee-charging schools is testament to ensuring accessibility to education.

“Except in instances where parents and or guardians enter private contracts with independent schools, learners should not be prejudiced by an inability to pay fees,” Gaum said.