Durban – South Africa faces a crisis in education with a growing number of cash strapped parents unable to pay school fees. Without the money, those schools who don’t get sizeable government funding, will not be able to operate efficiently.
When the country went into a hard lockdown in March last year, some parents took cuts to their salaries while others lost their jobs. The result was that more parents could not afford school fees.
The TPN Credit Bureau recently conducted a survey which showed the biggest challenge schools faced was unpaid fees. The survey found school fees amounted to 60% of a public school’s income and 90% for a private school.
As a result, a shortfall in fees impacted on the school’s ability to operate and even survive.
Michelle Dickens, the managing director of TPN Credit Bureau, said even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, school fees were not regarded as a priority by parents. Home loans or rent, car instalments and store cards were seen as more important.
Dickens said the TPN 2020 School Fee Payment Monitor showed the collection of school fees was best in January last year with just over 60% of parents paying.
During the lockdown, it dropped with less than one in two parents paying in full. August last year was the worst month, with 45.9% of parents paying. By November, this had increased to just over 50%.
Dickens said, as a result of the second wave, there was likely to be an increase in the number of parents applying for exemptions from fee-paying public schools.
The government is not in the position to spend much more on education given the country’s dire financial state.
According to Dickens, the Department of Basic Education’s budget for 2020/2021 had decreased by 5.3% compared to the previous year.
"In South Africa, two-thirds of all children attend no-fee schools, leaving the state to pick up the tab for their education. A minority, around 6.5%, attend private schools. The balance of children attend fee-paying public schools.
"The latter, which account for around a third of all public schools, are reliant on school fees, both to pay for additional teachers not funded by the Department of Basic Education as well as additional costs incurred by the school."
She said parents could apply for fee exemption from fee-paying public schools based on their financial situations.
"This means that fee-paying public schools are increasingly being forced to balance fee collection with providing fee exemptions to parents with little or no income."
On the ground
A Phoenix primary school principal said: “About 20% of the school population was granted school fee exemption last year while we received about 15% of fees from the paying pupils. In 2019, we received about 60% of the fees.
“The school's savings have been used up, but we still owe the municipality more than R120 000 for lights and water. We are facing bankruptcy, and there is no hope that the collection will improve. Many parents have lost their jobs, and donors are struggling.
“The school caters to 450 pupils, and the fees are R1 400 a year. The principal of the quintile five school said they needed an operational budget of about R40 000 a month.
“We receive once-off funding for the year for municipal bills, but the amount is only enough to pay the accounts for one or two months. The department must reassess this amount so we can survive."
The deputy principal of a high school in Clairwood said they had received 5% in school fees. The school has 982 pupils and charges R3 500 per annum. He said the collection rate had dropped from its usual 15% in 2019. This meant the school was unable to do routine maintenance last year.
"We had reserve funds from donors which we used to pay the utility bills. These were earmarked for academic improvements, but we had to ensure we kept the electricity connected, the taps running, and for maintenance and security staff. But in the process, we had to reduce our SGB (school governing body) appointed staff."
A primary school principal in Clairwood said: “Our school has always had an issue with collecting fees, and 2020 was the worst year. We normally receive between 50% to 60%, but only 30% was paid by the end of 2020.
“Fifty pupils were exempt from paying, and I am certain the number will increase this year. While we get a subsidy for those who were granted an exemption, the issue lies with those parents who don't apply for exemption and don't pay the fees either. This impacts on our operations.”
The school has 670 pupils and the annual fee is R2 400.
In Pietermaritzburg, a high school principal said its collection rate in 2020 was 10%. The former model C school has 1 050 pupils and charges R21 000 per annum.
The principal said in 2019, they received between 70% and 80% in fees.
“However, many of our parents are state workers and were paid salaries, but they did not pay the fees in 2020. While offering online teaching, we constantly pushed for the fees to be paid. We told the parents that we were honouring our commitment to curriculum delivery, and they needed to honour the school fee payment. It worked, but some parents asked for discounts."
She said about 300 parents applied for rebates, and that they were given different levels of concessions according to their income.
“The challenge regarding the rebates, or concessions, is that the department pays what it can and not what is due to schools for rebates. The department allocates about R300 000 for compensation for rebates, Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM) and non-LTSM such as desks annually. This accounts for under 1% of the school budget for the year."
The principal of an independent school in Durban said that about 40% of its pupils were granted a concession. The combined school, which has 960 pupils, charges between R17 500 and R48 000 per annum.
“About 35% of parents had difficulty in paying fees from March to September. Due to this, staff salaries were reduced by 25% for six months, and all capital expenditure spending was curtailed, and expenditure was on essentials only."
The principal said the department provided a subsidy, but it was only about 3% of its annual budget. He said the department had promised additional relief for December 2020 to March 2021, but this had not materialised.
"We will approach our regular donors, but we will not be undertaking any fund-raisers because of the constrained financial situation in the country.”
As an independent school, he said they could only accept pupils who could afford the fees.
“The board subsidised the fees of a limited number of pupils from disadvantaged communities.”
Elijah Mhlanga, national spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education, said budget allocations had not yet been completed.
“Due to the pandemic, some activities did not happen, so the savings from such programmes have been redirected to expenses that are related to Covid-19.”
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