Late pupil registrations a burden on school budgets, says MEC Makupula

PARENTS who have not yet registered their children for next year are unknowingly compounding the many problems faced by schools, especially those in the poorest communities. According to Education MEC Mandla Makupula, schools are allocated their budgets based on pupil numbers provided before they close for the December holidays – and no additional funds are provided for late registrations. He said while schools were due to reopen on January 13, long queues of parents still wanting to register their children were expected then. “This will affect the school’s budget as planning takes place in the previous year,” Makupula said. “Money is allocated per child for the year and if more children are registered [in the new year], they will become parasites on [those] who have done the right thing and registered early.” Makupula was addressing members of the SA Communist Party’s Mbuyiselo Ngwenda district yesterday regarding education problems in the region. “No-fees schools receive R1 059 a child a year,” he said. “This goes towards books, stationery and maintenance. “At Quintile 4 schools, like former Model C schools, they receive R523 a child a year, while top-level Quintile 5 schools receive R184 a child a year.”

Children who had not been budgeted for forced schools to dip into funds meant for other pupils. Meanwhile, the SACP’s Mazotsho Dukwe read out a list of issues which it believes the department should tackle as a matter of urgency:

• Teacher provision: “We have experienced a lot of service delivery protests recently demanding more educators.
• Teacher numbers were dropping and teacher/pupil ratios were rising.
• Support staff: “In township and northern areas schools there are no secretaries, caretakers, security staff or groundsmen.”
• Incremental introduction of African languages: “Former Model C schools will hire a white teacher who was raised on a farm, not necessarily qualified to teach.”
• School infrastructure: “Most of our schools in the townships and northern areas were built in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s and most of them are ageing.”