status
23 March 2006
About 424 primary schools in the Western Cape may soon scrap school fees if
they opt for status as a "no fee" school. The Western Cape Education Department
(WCED) has offered this option to these schools, for implementation from 1 May
2006, which will benefit a total of 146 192 (or 15.9%) learners attending
public ordinary schools.
The offer forms part of the roll-out of a new national policy to scrap fees
in poor schools. President Thabo Mbeki has signed the Education Laws Amendment
Act 24 of 2005 on 26 January this year (2006) to allow the national Minister of
Education to identify categories of schools that may not charge school
fees.
Education MECs in the provinces will use these categories to identify "no
fee" schools. The national and provincial education departments use five
quintiles to classify schools, with the poorest schools in the first quintile
and the least poor schools in the fifth quintile.
From 2007 we intend to cover all National Quintile 1 - 3 schools (both
primary and secondary) in the Western Cape. This will mean that all those
schools with 37,6% of all our poorest learners will be receiving a Norms and
Standards allocation of at least R554 per learner.
From 2008 we intend moving to the national targets for 2008 currently set at
R772 per learner for the poorest quintile (first 6,5% of our learners), R711
for the second poorest quintile (next 8% of our learners) and R581 for the
third poorest quintile (next 23,1% of our learners). No school will receive
less than they currently receive when the 'no fee status' system is fully
implemented.
The national Department of Education (DoE) will determine the poverty
rankings for the quintiles, which are also used to allocate norms and standards
funding for running costs and learning support materials.
The DoE will base the poverty ranking of schools on the relative poverty of
the community surrounding the school. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)
provides the information needed for these rankings.
The DoE will rank schools throughout the country according to national
quintiles and provinces will allocate norms and standards funding according to
these rankings. Schools will be able to scrap school fees if they have to rely
on the State to provide more than a certain level of support per learner, known
as the "adequacy benchmark funding level". This level is currently R527 per
learner, including the norms and standards allocations already issued for
2006/07.
The Education Laws Amendment Act comes into effect from 1 January 2007. As
an interim measure, provinces may invite schools to apply for "no fee" status
for the remainder of the 2006/07 financial year, depending on funds available
to provide additional support for them.
The Education Laws Amendment Act is an important provision in realising both
the vision of the Freedom Charter (The doors of learning and culture shall be
opened!) and the Constitutional Right of everyone to a basic education, which
the state, through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and
accessible.
Parents of children attending "no fee" schools will therefore not have to
pay school fees and will not have to apply for exemption from paying school
fees. "No fee" schools will also supply all learners with support
materials.
"No fee" schools will still have to prepare budgets as well as keep records
of funds received and spent in line with the provisions of the South African
Schools Act. The WCED will phase in "no fee" school status on a voluntary basis
during the 2006/07 financial year.
The Department will allocate R29 million during the 2006/07 financial year
for this initiative, followed by amounts of R139 million and R237 million
2007/08 and 2008/09 respectively.
Because of limited funds available for the 2006/07 financial year, the WCED
will focus on the poorest primary schools as part of the first phase of
implementing "no fee" school status. The WCED has therefore approached the
schools to opt voluntarily for "no fee" status this year.
The Department will continue phasing in the implementation of this policy in
2007/08, with a view to completing this process during the 2008/09 financial
year, at schools representing about 37.6% of our learners.
Schools wishing to apply for "no fee" status during the 2006/07 financial
year must do so by 21 April 2006. The WCED will begin allocating funds to
approved "no fee schools" in May 2006.
Schools granted this status will receive norms and standards funding of R527
per learner for this 2006/07 financial year. This will include the norms and
standards funding already allocated to these schools.
The WCED will pay the difference between the current norms and standards
allocation and the adequacy benchmark funding level of R527 per learner on two
amounts, in May and November 2006.
The no fee status only removes the requirement of charging of compulsory
school fees. Requesting parents and local businesses for voluntary
contributions to the school should still be regarded as an important way of
attracting much needed additional financial resources to schools.
The adequacy benchmark level is more than the schools fees raised by
majority of the qualifying schools and therefore, those schools should be
better resourced. Furthermore, the burden placed on the school governing bodies
and staff to collect school fees will be eased, thereby ensuring more focus on
education in the classroom.
The Department will meet representatives of the 424 schools identified for
the first phase of the project within the following two weeks, to clarify what
is involved in applying for "no fee" school status.
As we roll out the "no fee" schools, it remains the duty of the school
principals to continue to inform parents of their right to apply for full or
partial exemption.
I want to emphasise that no learner can be refused entry to any public
school if the parents cannot afford fees levied by that school. Illegal
practices, such as withholding reports and charging non-refundable admin fees,
will be acted against firmly.
Where school fees are still charged, I want to urge parents to continue
paying these fees. Parents should attend annual budget meetings of schools and
be part of determining school fees. They have a right to full information as to
how the budget is being used.
Enquiries: Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Office of the MEC for Education
082 550 3938
Tel: (021) 467 2523
E-mail: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
23 March 2006
