By Noelene Barbeau
Two single mothers, humiliated by their children's school over their failure to pay school fees, won a groundbreaking case in the Durban High Court on Friday.
In a test case against Hunt Road Secondary, its school governing body, the Education MEC and the Education Minister, the school was ordered to apply the school fee exemption policy and to inform poor parents that such a policy existed and who qualified.
Hunt Road Secondary agreed to do so, by order of the Durban High Court, and to redress past cases.
The exemption policy is that by law a principal and the school governing body are required to inform parents that they can be exempted from paying their children's school fees if they cannot afford to do so.
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Parents have to inform the school they cannot afford to pay the fees and then fill in an exemption application form. The school decides whether to exempt a parent. In many cases, parents may have more than one child at the school so the family may receive a concession. In the case of an unemployed parent, he or she would have to bring an unemployment letter to school or proof that they cannot afford to pay.
Audrey Ngubane and Emily Ngwira were sued for unpaid school fees even though they applied to be exempted because of financial constraints.
In court papers, they said they were told if they could not afford the fees, they should transfer their children to cheaper schools. They then approached the Department of Education for help. The department wrote a letter to the school demanding the mothers be given exemption application forms. They applied for exemptions in 2005 but received no response.
In April 2005, the Sheriff's office removed Ngubane's furniture from her home in Sydenham. She didn't receive any notice of legal proceedings. The unemployed single mother approached the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Cals), based at the University of Witwatersrand, who found that the school had obtained a judgment against Ngubane for R3 000 in outstanding fees for 2004. The order to rescind the judgment was granted in August 2005 and the school withdrew its case. Despite the order being granted, Ngubane's name was handed over to the South African Credit Bureau.
In February 2006, Ngwira approached Cals after receiving a second notice to appear in court for unpaid fees.
Cals learnt there was a default judgment taken for R12 800 in outstanding fees. She applied for it to be rescinded and this was granted in May 2006. The school then withdrew its case.
Ngwira has nine dependants - four children, three grandchildren and two of her deceased sister's children. She relied on money she earned as a domestic worker as well as child support grants. After making two exemption applications to the school, she was told she would only receive a 50 percent remission of fees for 2005 and her application for 2006 was still being reviewed.
According to Cals, under the South African Schools Act, Ngwira was entitled to a full exemption and she was also required to be informed, in writing within seven days, by the governing body whether her application was successful. She was never told.
Cals tried to determine from the school how many other parents were placed in a similar situation. When the school failed to respond, they searched court files and found the school took similar action against 10 other parents, all of whom are poor single mothers with more than one dependent. According to Cals, all were entitled to full exemptions and despite this were sued by the school.
In court papers, Ngubane and Ngwira said their children were being victimised. Ngwira's daughter said she was personally victimised by the school principal Hendrina Kemp.
In opposing papers, Kemp said her school always ensured all policies were strictly and fairly adhered to. She said the non-payment by some parents was unfair to those parents who paid and also directly affected their rights as they must now must bear the added expense.
"The policy does little to assist the school in alleviating its financial constraints. The more parents are exempt, the less money the school receives to provide an education for previously disadvantaged pupils . . . The policy has been applied meticulously by the school despite difficulties," said Kemp in court papers.
She reported R3.7 million in unpaid fees as of December 2004. A year later this total increased to R4.4 million and at the time of deposing papers the total of unpaid fees was R5.43 million.
Kemp argued Ngubane and Ngwira's application for exemption was made after action by the school about their failure to pay school fees.
Hunt Road Secondary was interdicted from proceeding with actions instituted against parents after January 26, 2006, unless they could provide proof that those parents wouldn't qualify for exemptions.
The school is also required to inform parents of the exemption policy and invite them to apply if they qualify.
Reacting to the ruling, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria, said, "One shouldn't be too critical of the school's attempt for greater revenue from parents because the government doesn't provide enough money to schools for a well-rounded education."
noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 4 of Tribune on June 17, 2007
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