THE state has a constitutional obligation to educate all children – and a child cannot be excluded from public schools because of this constitutional obligation.
Independent schools, unlike public schools, do not have a constitutional obligation to educate all children and can exclude those whose parents continually refuse to pay school fees.
However, if a parent (both independent and public) is in real economic hardship, the school makes a payment plan.
According to the Basic Financial System for Schools in terms of Section 21, schools are responsible for managing their own finances and governance needs to be scrupulous to avoid any untoward behaviour, fraud or corruption.
For this reason, School Governing Bodies (SBG) are established and the overall responsibility for controlling school money and property, in terms of the South African Schools Act, lies with the governing body.
According to the uThungulu Department of Education, all financial matters of the school are purely regulated by a school fees policy drafted by the SBG together with the school and parents and thus any loss will be incurred by the school itself and not the department.
Empangeni Preparatory School Principal BD Dlamuka said thorough credit checks are conducted during the admissions process to avoid the potential exclusion of pupils.
‘Our school does not have parents in arrears and the minor percentage who owe a small fee are on a payment plan.
‘Some pupils qualify for exemptions based on proven financial records and that is the general consensus across public schools, obviously determined according to each schools SGB.’ Dlamuka said.
