Fee increase above inflation rate

Most schools, whether they are former Model Cs or township schools, have seen fees increase by between 7% and 10% this year. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi

Most schools, whether they are former Model Cs or township schools, have seen fees increase by between 7% and 10% this year. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi

Published Jan 13, 2017

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Durban – If you thought you were paying too much for school fees, you are not alone.

Most schools, whether they are former Model Cs or township schools, have seen fees increase by between 7% and 10% this year. That’s above the country’s inflation rate of about six percent.

Pushing up fees is the rising costs of water, electricity and salaries. In some more well to do schools that transport children, the rising price of petrol is also leading to higher fees.

School Governing Bodies (SGBs) determine what the increase in school fees should be every year and not the department of education. This is based on the school’s individual needs.

By law schools cannot deny a pupil admission based on their parent’s ability to pay. But everyone suffers when a school can’t pay the bills.

Mthandeni Dlungwana, the MEC for education in KwaZulu-Natal, raised the issue during the release of the 2016 matric results last week. He warned that in some cases fees were going up by 10% per annum.

Dlungwana was concerned that education was becoming extremely expensive, making it more of a privilege than a right.

Dlungwana had promised that his department would “do something” to make sure that quality education is not preserved for the few but exactly what this entailed was not spelt out.

Other stakeholders in education said public schools needed to instil a paying culture amongst those parents that could afford to.

Vee Gani, chairperson of the Durban Parents Association, said the problem was particularly acute in former Model C schools.

He said schools had become more expensive to run.

He added that many schools were forced to hire additional teachers at their own expense to ensure high standards were maintained.

“The shortage of teachers is unfortunately a problem for most schools. The biggest slice of school fees go to teacher salaries. SGBs are forced to pay some of the teachers from money generated through school fees,” he said.

At one former Model C school, Penzance Primary in Glenwood, fees went up by 8.44%. Parents who last year paid R21 100 will now fork out R22 880 for Grades 1. Fees for Grades 2-7 went up to R22 330 a year.

At neighbouring Durban Girls’ High School, fees increased by 8%, from R40 000 last year to R43 500 this year.

Allen Thompson, the president of the National Teachers Union (Natu), pointed out that this was almost double what students at most universities of technology pay a year.

He said government employees were hard hit, especially teachers who, while contributing to the education of the country, still had to pay for educating their own children.

Even in areas where school fees are lower, they are often unaffordable to people living in those areas.

Parents of pupils at Briadene Primary School in Redhill, Durban, a fee paying quintile 4 school have been paying R1000 a year for school fees for the past four years.

This year the SGB took a decision to up fees by R200, making it R1200 a year.

Briadene headmaster Nenny Bowes said the school was forced to keep fees extremely low because most pupils came from poor families in which unemployment was rife.

“Although we are a fee-paying school, the majority of parents are faced with the problem of unemployment and poverty and as a result struggle to pay. As it is there are parents who still cannot afford to pay,” said Bowes.

Fees at Excelsior Primary School in Mobeni Heights are even lower at R450 per child. But some parents still can’t afford this.

An unemployed mother of two pupils at the schools who asked not to be named said she survived on a child care grant. She saved R50 a month for each child from the social grant.

“Saving R50 a month is not easy since I have to buy food and pay for electricity.

“But, I have no choice,” she said.

Daily News

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