I recently tried to help a mother sort out a school fees nightmare. She has four of her own children at schools, and is paying for the education of two of her relatives. The six are enrolled at four different schools.
As a domestic worker, she doesn’t exactly make a fortune, and the going sometimes gets very tough for her. But she’s serious about getting these children an education. So when she went to one of her children’s schools recently to pay outstanding fees, imagine her horror when she was redirected to a lawyer’s office – and was then handed an additional bill for the legal work this lawyer had apparently done to get her to settle her debt.
No, she had not been informed about the fee-exemption option – but strangely, she wouldn’t have qualified. The policy doesn’t calculate the total education bill a parent may face – the exemption formula puts one household’s income in relation to the school fees of one learner.
This may change soon: draft regulations to adjust aspects of fee exemptions were put out for public comment in December. Some of the suggested changes seem positive: the exemption formula will take into account the total fees bill of parents; and exemption will include not having to pay ‘additional monetary contributions explicitly demanded by the school”.
But critics point out a number of critical shortcomings. One is that there is no suggestion that the state will compensate the school for revenue lost – a crucial issue in my view, since the need for schools to have additional finances available is obvious.
Another criticism is that the regulations are far too complex and time-consuming, representing yet another arduous responsibility being dumped on school governing bodies (SGBs) and principals. Take a look at this as an example:
This, dear readers, is the handy formula the bureaucrats have devised for you and your SGB to calculate whether the parent qualifies for an exemption. It does come with an explanation of what all the little figures represent, and they’ve also been so kind as to provide a few examples.
I don’t think I’m alone in finding just the sight of such a formula intimidating. Added to which, research repeatedly confirms that schools often have functionally illiterate parents serving on the SGB, who would be unable to read the definitions provided, let alone apply the foreign-looking formula.
Perhaps Minister if Finance Trevor Manuel caught wind of this – which is why he provided for a handsome R6,9-billion in this year’s Budget to improve teacher salaries. Because unless something about running a school gets better, the list of reasons to remain in education is becoming dangerously short.
So can I tell the beleaguered mother not to worry too much? Perhaps, when 2006 and implementation of the new regulations begin, the financial pressure on her will recede a little. I only hope the money-grabbing lawyers don’t have her locked up in the meantime.