Durban - The KZN Education Department has warned schools that it will probe “unacceptably” high school fees.
Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwana, speaking at the awards ceremony for 2018’s matriculants in Durban on Friday, said quality education should not be out of reach.
“Schools fees are increasing to an unacceptable level. This is the worry we are having. The reason is unknown to us. We will be looking specifically into it. Education must not be reserved for the rich. School fees must not be a barrier to access quality education,” he said, soon after announcing that KZN achieved a 76.2% pass rate, up by 3.4% from 2017’s figures.
He said it was a growing trend that parents were not able to afford school fees.
“You cannot have a situation where a child lives 100metres from a school, but cannot go there because the fees are too high. The rising costs deepen the divisions between the rich and the poor. Education must be affordable,” he said.
While no specific plan of action was given, Dlungwana said this issue would have “special focus” this year.
His comments come soon after the announcement that schools that fell within the greater Durban area, classified as the uMlazi and Pinetown districts, were not among the top three performing districts in KZN for the 2018 matric year.
Amajuba (Newcastle) performed the best at 81.7%, followed by Ugu (South Coast) at 79.6%, and Umkhanyakude (northern KZN) at 78.1%. Pinetown had a pass rate of 77.4% and uMlazi 76.67%.
He said uMlazi, Pinetown and Umgungundlovu were urban, not rural, areas. "Urban areas have all the resources and access to major facilities such as libraries and computer labs for pupils. We expect more from them, to be among the best-performing in the province. We will put more pressure on them this year, with extra focus, to ensure they produce more,” Dlungwana said.
Despite the criticism, all districts in KZN achieved a 70%-upward pass rate, and Dlungwana is pushing for the province to achieve an 85% pass rate for 2019’s matrics, and notch up the province’s pass-rate rankings nationally.
Parents' Association Vee Gani said high school fees were a major concern. The association was still fielding queries from parents where schools were withholding year-end reports because of unpaid fees.
“This is illegal. You cannot withhold that report because of unpaid fees. We understand what the school goes through with finances, but at the end of the day it’s illegal. Schools say they cannot re-register a pupil for the next school year unless all fees are paid. There is no need to be re-registered. Schools are using this as a threat to make parents pay the fees, but it’s illegal. We want parents to report these things to us,” he said.
Other tactics used by some schools, were to state that they were “full”. “Some schools want to admit children based on merit. They only want to take the top-performing pupils, or look at what the parents can afford. We’ve heard some schools say they are full, but there needs to be a signed letter from the district stating the school was in fact full,” said Gani.
Dr Anthea Cereseto, national chief executive of the Governing Body Foundation, rebutted Dlungwana’s argument that learners whose parents could not afford fees at some schools were denied quality education.
“School fees have always been a complex issue. Every learner who is not able to afford fees can access a school fee exemption, or partially reduced fees depending on their parents' incomes. It does not mean if you cannot afford fees that you are denied quality education,” she said.
Cereseto said the real issue was the quality of education being offered at schools, which did not necessarily depend on what resources a school had.
“The primary question is the quality of teaching and learning taking place in each classroom. This is the fundamental base of good education. This is what the department should be focused on.”
Cereseto added that school fees largely paid for teachers' salaries, and also cross-subsidised children who were exempt from paying fees.
“Many schools have a high burden of non-paying learners. Some schools have pools lying unused because they don’t have the funds to use them. We don’t support excessive increases in fees - it’s not right in these tough economic times,” she said.
Allen Thompson, the deputy president of the KZN-based National Teachers’ Union, said the province’s matric results were welcomed.
“There are a number of issues they can sort out in this academic year to make sure that schools in the uMlazi and Pinetown areas, and Umgungundlovu, perform better, such as filling vacant posts,” he said.
Sadtu president Magope Maphila said: “Schools in rural and township areas that largely fall in the Quintile 1 and 3 categories continued to outperform their more affluent counterparts in Quintiles 4 and 5.
“The 2018 class recorded the highest number of bachelor passes in the country’s history. The children of the poor and the working class are now afforded an opportunity to enrol at institutions of higher learning and this will change, for the better, the course of their lives, their families and communities.”