R300k a year for SA’s priciest schools: Totally worth it, say the experts

Every parent wishes for the best for their children, and this includes quality education. However, when one considers the fees charged by many of the country’s leading private schools, it becomes abundantly clear that it could be unaffordable.

Just the annual cost to keep a child in one of these schools, is often more than what many South African parents earn annually, while the continuous rise in the cost of living, makes it even more difficult for parents to realise the dream of a better and quality education for their children.

Many of the countries most expensive schools charge more than R100 000 per year for tuition (excluding extra-curricular activities), while some go as high as three times this amount.

These prices are completely out of reach for those earning an average South African take-home salary of R14 000, as reported this week. Coupled with the fact that the average household’s monthly expenses amount to nearly R13 000, this means it is almost impossible to even save up to afford these fees.

Schools have earned the right to be pricy

Speaking to The Citizen, an independent education consultant Muavia Gallie said the schools in question have earned the right to be trusted by parents, since the success of pupils is influenced by the institutional culture of the schools for many years, over multiple generations.

“These schools are covered by education legislation which caters for public and independent schools and by design, the independent schools are allowed to charge school fees at the level allowed by their School Governing Body (mainly parents). 

“Only parents of those specific schools can complain to their SGB, if they find it as too expensive but the school boarding and/or school fees will only be under scrutiny if the process of making the decision has not followed the democratic and consultative process as required by the South African School Act (SASA),” said Gallie.

Educational apartheid?

As if to demonstrate their dominance, private schools always feature heavily among the country’s top achievers when matric results are released at the end of every year.

ALSO READ: Private schools are thriving in SA

When asked if the massive barriers to entry, combined with the obvious differences in outcomes don’t constitute a level of discrimination against poorer students, depriving millions of an equal education, Gallie replied:

“These independent and even some public schools, make up about 2-5% of South Africa’s population who can afford the boarding and/or fees of these schools. 

“However, the other schools are public schools, who cater for all other learners who come from poor, middle-class and rich families/communities and about two-thirds of pupils are attending no fee schools, and the list is updated every year by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) for the convenience of parents.”

Gallie stressed that the focus should not be about the cost of these few schools, but rather on the quality of education and the success of the pupils who attend them.

This becomes ever more apparent when considering a recent study by the Equal Education Law Centre which indicated that 80% of schools which serve mostly black and coloured pupils are dysfunctional.

“Although there are disputes about the criteria of dysfunctionality, we can’t deny that a major section of society is not receiving quality education,” Gallie added.

Government schools simply can’t compete

Earlier this week, The Citizen reported that South Africa is struggling to keep up with the exodus of experienced teachers, with the country reportedly on the verge of losing more than 45% of its skilled government-employed teachers.

ALSO READ: SA not keeping up with exodus of experienced teachers, warn experts

At the same time, experts suggest that distance learning in tertiary institutions is compromising the quality of teaching lead to an increase in unqualified and unskilled people as teachers’ assistants, while education students weren’t absorbed into the system for the experience.

University of KwaZulu-Natal associate professor in education Wayne Hugo said, “The situation was worse than just losing teachers”.

“But what it means is that you’ve got a direct line into employment in schools, from people who aren’t actually qualified.

“Which isn’t a bad thing, but it means that they tend to keep high quality and high skill is being subverted, by a situation of allowing more low skilled people access into the schooling employment side.”

This means that while government schools were battling to keep up, private schools are not only better equipped infrastructure-wise, but also in terms of human capital.

Government neglecting the poor intentionally

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies Matakanye Matakanye says a lot more pressure would have to be put on government to ensure that more children are exposed to quality education.

“They (government) have been neglecting the poor for labour purposes because if we everyone was to receive quality education, who is going to do labour for the slave master?” Matakanye asked.

He also agrees with Gallie that there is nothing wrong with private, independent schools in question, as they offer value to those who can afford it.

Here are some of South Africa’s most expensive schools

Boarding schools tend to be the most expensive, considering the expenses ranging from accommodation, food and of course school fees:

• Hilton College and Michaelhouse both situated in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) each can charge more than R300 000 annually per pupil, depending on the grade.

Hilton College appears to be the country’s most exclusive school, with only those who are able to fork out a whopping R343 155 per annum for their highest grades able to attend the boys’ school located near the town of Hilton in the KZN midlands.

• The most expensive girls’ school is the Roedean School for Girls and its annual fee isn’t far behind that of Hilton, at R310 994.

• Fees for St. Andrews College and Kingswood College in the Eastern Cape range between R270 000 and just over R300 000.

While day schools are considered to be cheaper than their boarding school counterparts, parents are also forced to dig deep into their pockets:

• At a school like Kearsney in KZN, parents pay R209 000 annually and more than R179 000 at St. John’s Colleague in Gauteng.

• The annual school fees for a high school pupil at one of the Curro chain of schools is around R100 000.

• At the Crawford group of schools, parents for grade 8 to 12 pupils can expect to spend anything between R132 000 and R147 000 annually.

Ten schools charging more than R200 000 a year:

St. Martins School (Boarding) from R232 120

St. Stithians School (Boarding) from R232 640

St. Andrews School (Boarding) from R233 810

St. Marys School (Boarding) from R234 540

St. Alban College (Boarding) from R267 650

St. Andrews School (Boarding) from R270 220

St. John’s College (Boarding) from R274 000

Roedean School for Girls (Boarding) from R274 000

Michael House School (Boarding) from R284 000

Hilton College (Boarding) from R298 600