Cape Town -
One no-fee school has 115 pupils from different grades crammed into three classrooms while, just a few kilometres away, a former Model C school has 11 classrooms that are not in use.
Now school principals at no-fee schools in Wolseley in the Boland have called on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to recategorise the former Model C school a no-fee school to alleviate the overcrowding.
On Sunday, principals from two non-fee schools spoke out about a growing farmworker population that could not afford to pay school fees.
It was not uncommon to find 60 pupils from different grades crammed into one classroom.
Schools are increasingly having to turn pupils away with no referral, as there are none that can accommodate them.
Leon Rossouw, education circuit manager for the Cape Winelands District, said there were four primary schools in Wolseley, of which three were no-fee schools.
Koos Arendse, principal at Errie Moller NGK Primary School, a farm school just outside the main town, said his school had two classrooms and a computer lab that also served as a full-time teaching space.
This year Arendse accepted 115 pupils - the most the school has ever had to squeeze in.
“I have never had to accept so many pupils. I am forced to because if I don’t, they will have nowhere to go. I know of many pupils that have still not found an alternative school. There are children still sitting at home because they don’t have money,” he said.
For the past 20 years, Arendse has collected and dropped all his pupils at home every day.
He considers the R1 000 a month he spends on petrol an investment in the future of his pupils.
“I desperately want these children to better their lives. I don’t mind dropping them every day. As long as I know they are learning, I am happy,” he said.
Just 6km down the road is Wolseley Primary School. Arendse said parents could not afford the R600-a-month fee because the school was a quintile five school, which meant it was classified as a “least poor” school and therefore received less funding from the government.
He said the school had 11 vacant classrooms because parents, mainly farmworkers, couldn’t afford the fees.
Arendse had written to the WCED to propose that the school be classified a quintile one, or “poorest school”, he said.
“That is the only thing that will allow parents to be able to afford it. Otherwise, children are going to continue to sit at home,” he said.
WCED spokesman Paddy Attwell said the department’s district office was investigating education provision in the area.
Parents could apply for exemption if they could not afford the school fees, he said.
“The area has more than enough classrooms for the registered pupil population. District officials will consider all the options before deciding what to do,” Attwell said.
Witzenberg Primary School changed from a fee-paying school to a no-fee school last year.
Principal James McClune said the school had been much better off since it changed its quintile profile.
“We fought a lot to have the school become a no-fee school. Many of our pupils’ parents are farmworkers and we used to turn people away,” McClune said.
“Now we can accept more freely and contribute to improving the lives of pupils from the area.”
Bawsi Agricultural Workers Union of SA (Bawusa) general secretary Nosey Pieterse said it was impossible for farmworkers, who earned R112 a day, to afford school fees.
He said it was unacceptable that there might still be children at home because they could not afford to go to a fee-paying school.
“Children have to be in school,” Pieterse said.
“We are tired of the cycle of poverty among farmworkers. Education should be free so that we don’t have children sitting at home.”
l Meanwhile, Jessica Shelver, spokeswoman for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, said the department had run a registration drive in Mfuleni where more than 800 pupils were being taught in a tent. Shelver said the department was working to place the pupils as quickly as possible.
Schooling in the tent is expected to continue today
Cape Times