Over five million South African pupils and 13 000 schools will be exempt from school fees from January, the Department of Education said on Wednesday.
”The Department of Education wishes to announce that all the nine provincial departments of education have submitted their lists of the number of learners and schools [that] would benefit from the 40% learners in no-fee schools declaration by the Minister of Education Naledi Pandor in 2007,” the department said in a statement.
Spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said more than five million pupils will benefit in 13 856 schools countrywide.
The number of learners benefiting in each province varies according to the wealth of the people living in that province, said Ngqengelele.
”In the Eastern Cape, one of the country’s poorest provinces, over one million pupils will be exempt, with 3 825 schools exempted,” he said.
In KwaZulu-Natal more than 1,1-million pupils that will benefit. In the Limpopo province more than 1,015-million pupils will not have to pay school fees and in Mpumalanga 404 432.
In Gauteng 383 674, the Free State 298 184, North West 267 042 and the Western Cape 132 560 will benefit. In the Northern Cape 102 244 pupils will not have to pay school fees from next year.
”[The] government [will] subsidise pupils depending on which quintile the school appears in,” he said.
”Schools in quintile five [are] the poorest of the poor, … increasing in wealth until quintile one.”
Ngqengelele echoed earlier calls by Pandor for parents to assist schools in raising funds as the no-fee policy might reduce revenue generated through school fees.
”We urge parents to assist in any form they can, whether it is with the general maintenance of the schools or raising funds,” he said.
Pandor had earlier cautioned parents that an increase in school fees might make it necessary for a school to grant fee exemptions to more parents.
Seventeen schools in KwaZulu-Natal sought legal intervention this month to block the implementation of the no-fee policy.
Fee exemption arose from the signing in of the Education Laws Amendment Bill in 2005, which gave the minister the power to determine if a school could charge school fees.
The names of the schools identified per province, their location and allocation is expected to be published in the Government Gazette by Friday December 1. — Sapa