Durban - Parents at public and private school are forking out more in fees, despite spending less time in the classroom.
Schools in KwaZulu-Natal contacted by the Sunday Tribune have increased their fees between 2% and 7%.
Northlands Girls’ High School in Durban North was the only school surveyed whose fees remained unchanged from last year, with Grade 8s paying R44780 and grades 9 to 12 R42536.
Theven Reddy, principal of Northlands said 2020 was a difficult year for parents, and a decision was, therefore, taken to offer parents a reprieve and not increase school fees.
“We have been able to continue with the operational running of the school as we had a sound set of financials. Planned projects which were not urgent were curtailed. Many projects in 2021 have been deferred to future years,” said Reddy.
Emma Dunk, chairperson of Westville Girls’ High School governing body, said their fees increased by 7%.
“We have budgeted for a ‘normal’ school year and have made every effort to keep the budget as trimmed down as possible for 2021. Our core cost centres include: academic; admin; operating costs; buildings and grounds; computers; furniture and equipment; salaries; catering and awards; cultural; transport; health and safety; sport and security.
“Staff salaries remain our largest budget item, making up just over 60% of our budget,” said Dunk.
Fees for Grade 8 increased from R40 480 per annum to R43 309 and grades 9 to 12 from R36 030 to R38 552.
According to Kate Field, Clifton School’s financial manager, their school fees increased by 2.5%.
“We are naturally empathetic to our parents’ financial situation, and under the circumstances, we had hoped to be able to deliver a 0% fee increase for 2021. While we negotiated favourable increases with many of our suppliers for this year, uncontrollable costs, such as electricity and rates, saw significant increases. We are a registered PBO (public benefit organisation), non-profit organisation, and since our budget is driven by costs, we were forced to implement this fee increase, but are pleased that we were able to keep it below the Consumer Price Index and the Education Price Index,” said Field.
One of the most expensive schools in the country, Hilton College near Pietermaritzburg, increased their fees by 3%.
Peter Storrar, director of marketing, said their fees for 2020 were officially set at R321 890 per annum, that includes tuition, meals, accommodation and most extra-curricular activities, given that they are a boarding school.
“After the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, capital projects have been under scrutiny and were delayed if possible. There were also savings on food, water and electricity for the periods that boys have been unable to be on campus. This allowed the school to extend a 12.5% fee remission for term 2 of 2020 to any parents that elected to take up the offer.
“In addition, we have been engaging with each family suffering from Covid-related financial difficulty in the hope of coming to an agreement on payment terms that will allow their son to remain at the school,” he said.
Storrar said their most important strength as a school was their people, and consequently their largest investment was salaries.
“Salary increases have been frozen for the majority of staff for at least six months of 2021 to limit the impact of fee increases on parents. The exceptions to this freeze have been staff who require a salary increase so that they can earn a living wage, and staff who are taking on new responsibilities,” said Storrar.
Fees at the prestigious Michaelhouse increased by 2.9% from R303600 to R312400 for boarding and tuition.
Durban Girls’ College increased their fees by 2% with Grades 8 to 12 paying R123300.
Glenwood High School Grade 8 pupils will pay R59590 while grades 9 to 12 will pay R57590, an increase of 5% from last year.
Fees for grades 1 to 7 pupils at Glenwood Preparatory School is R28 200, an increase of nearly 7% from last year’s R26 400.
Professor Labby Ramrathan, president of the SA Education Research Association, said the reality of the situation is there is a “plant that needs to be maintained and a teaching force that needs to be paid”.
“The cost of materials and electricity goes up and schools need to find ways in which to increase their income. Unfortunately, parents bear the brunt of all these additional expenses of having data at home and technology children can use. It’s unusual times, it’s not the norm.
“It’s not only the parents who are required to spend additional money and time, but the entire educational system. Schools have to invest in infrastructure,” said Ramrathan.
He said the majority of children will not have access to online learning facilities and will be forced to attend school, maybe on alternate days.
“This also brings further burden on families affected by socio-economic conditions and rely on the daily meal provided at school. While we say we should not increase the cost of schooling we could also say parents need to be supportive to assist their child manage in this unprecedented time,” he said.