Well-off schools could soon get subsidies for enrolling pupils who can’t afford to pay fees, the Department of Education said on Monday.
”The minister of education recognises that the number of fee exemptions granted at certain schools is becoming a burden on their school finances,” said Naledi Pandor’s spokesperson, Lunga Ngqengelele, in a statement.
She had asked the department to develop a framework to this effect, which it hoped to have in place by 2007, said Ngqengelele.
The subsidies were in reaction to school-fee exemption regulations which, according to Pandor, ”may reduce” the income schools received from school fees.
”I urge parents, school governing bodies and schools to raise funds by means of voluntary contributions to make up for any deficit,” the statement quoted Pandor as saying.
She cautioned parents that an increase in school fees might make it necessary for a school to grant fee exemptions to more parents.
According to the exemption regulations, 40% of South Africa’s schools would be declared no-fee schools in 2007.
A 2003 review on school resources and financing found, among other things, that schools often did not tell parents of their right to apply for exemption. It also revealed that schools discriminated against pupils whose parents could not pay fees.
These findings were used to amend legislation governing education in South Africa. — Sapa