‘Rich schools’ to dig even deeper
Spokesperson for the Department of Education, Dr Naledzani Rasila, says government believes poorer communities should receive higher allocations.
POLOKWANE – With the economy forcing most to tighten their belts, and drastic school fee increases expected for 2017, parents are starting to feel the pinch. And things are about to get tougher for schools classified as quintile 4 and 5 schools.
Quintile 4 and 5 schools have, for a number of years, not received funding from the Department of Education for resources in the form of scripts and stationery.
Schools in Westenburg and Seshego are all classified as quintile 1 to 3 schools, which means funding is still available to them, but limited.
Making up the deficit in funding, most local principals say they have to make do with less and less each year.
At Laerskool Pietersburg, Principal Peet Bredenkamp said the school has had a tough time trying to make ends meet, especially since more and more parents are falling behind on school fees.
“The non allocation of funds for stationery and scrips is nothing new, but it is a system that never took into consideration the means of parents to pay school fees.”
Tom Naudé High School Principal Piet Holtzhausen said they have not asked parents for additional funds over and above the school fees, but instead attempted to budget for the lack of funds.
“For now we will be fine when it comes to textbooks but because of the poor quality of the books that we have received, there will be a real need for new books in the 2018 academic year. We foresee problems in this area,” he said.
Principals at most other schools in the city shared this sentiment when contacted for comment.
Asked for comment on the non-funding of stationery and scripts for quintile 4 and 5 schools, Education Spokesperson Dr Naledzani Rasila said government believes poorer communities should receive higher allocations, so that there is less pressure to charge school fees.
He added that the department did not allocate funds specifically for stationery, but that the funds that were allocated have for years been allocated towards sanitation and school infrastructure in rural areas.
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