schools, bursaries and Ministerial awards
23 February 2006
A. âNo Feeâ schools:
The introduction of âNo Feeâ schools will make education more accessible
than before to the poorest of the poor by exempting entire parent communities
of 20% of KwaZulu-Natal schools from paying school fees.
No child at any of these 1341 schools will have to pay school fees. The
schools fall in the quintile one category of the poverty index of the province.
The criteria used to determine a schoolâs poverty rankings are the current ones
that will be revised during the course of this year in order to take the
poverty index of the parents of children attending the school into account.
Research has found that only between 20% and 30% of parents at these schools
can afford to pay school fees, varying from R100, R120 and R150 per child. The
majority of the âNo Feeâ schools are in the Zululand region (50%), followed by
the Ukhahlamba region (21%), the Pietermaritzburg region (17%) and Ethekwini
(12%).
To enable the schools to operate without an income from school fees the
Department of Education will replace the schools fees at these schools by
increasing the allocation per learner at all quintile one schools to R569. The
new allocation is R42 higher than the benchmark, set by the national Ministry
of Education.
To illustrate how the schools will benefit, I will use one example.
Embukisweni LP received an amount of R176 750 for learner basic education and
learner teacher support material in 2005. In the âNo Feeâ dispensation they
will receive R197 637, more than R12 000 more.
B. Bursary students:
The Department receives a number of applications from learners, who have
passed their Senior Certificate examination and want to study at, or are
already at tertiary institutions but are from disadvantaged backgrounds and
therefore in dire need of financial assistance.
We have been experiencing a shortage of teachers in gateway subjects, such
as Mathematics, Science and Technology. The few qualified teachers in gateway
subjects are attracted to schools in urban and semi urban areas, creating a
crisis in rural areas.
A decision was then taken to change the bursary system to deal with our
needs in education, instead of dishing out our limited funds to students to
study in fields not relevant to education.
An advert including detailed criteria was placed in the print media. We
received 3130 applications, which processed to identify deserving candidates.
All applicants had to undergo a means test to ensure that the most needy and
most deserving candidates in terms of merit performance benefit from the
financial assistance.
Today contracts between 53 students and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of
Education will be signed in this building.
The bursary holders will study towards a teaching qualification in fields,
identified as scarce and critical, such as Mathematics, Science, Technology,
Computer Studies, Commerce, IT, Auditing and Accounting, Speech Therapy,
Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy.
We will be spending R2.20m to fund the studies of these students - about R40
000 each per student per year. After completion of their studies they will be
employed by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education for a number of years
until they have âworkedâ back the money.
C. Maskew Miller Longman Bursaries for high school learners:
Maskew Miller Longman has awarded R17 000 to be used for bursaries. We
decided to give R1000 to 17 learners each, who have achieved above average and
who come from needy families. The money will not be used as school fees but for
uniforms, transport and other school expenses.
D. Ministerial awards for 100% pass schools:
Today we are rewarding our top achieving schools.
1. R5000 library book vouchers will be given to all 70 public schools that
obtained a 100% pass in the 2005 examinations.
2. 394 computers and 60 printers (to the value of more than R4m) will be given
to 21 of these good performing schools that donât have computers and to nine,
which have only one or two computers. Schools with an enrolment of less than
500 will be allocated 10 computers and those that have more than 500 learners
enrolled will receive 20 computers.
3. 17 schools, which have computers, but no laboratories, will receive science
kits to the value of R235 450
These awards are tokens of our gratitude towards the principals and staff
members at these schools, who worked incredibly hard to achieve these results.
The KwaZulu-Natal Education family wants to say thank you to these schools that
are keeping our flag flying high.
Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZuluâNatal Provincial
Government
23 February 2006
