Principals struggle to get full state subsidy
HERALD REPORTER
MANY frustrated principals in Nelson Mandela Bay say they are battling to keep their schools afloat because the Education Department refuses to classify them as no-fee schools, despite that fact that most of their pupils come from disadvantaged communities.
The Education Department introduced a new policy in 2007 in which it classified schools according to levels one to five.
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The schools in the lowest levels were deemed poor and allow pupils to enrol without paying fees. In return, government funds the expenses that were previously covered by fees.
High quintile schools are not 100% subsidised by the government and have to raise most of the money needed for operating the school through fundraising and school fees.
Provincial education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani said: "We fund schools according to poverty rankings of their surrounding communities, in line with National Norms and Standards for School Funding.
"We call these rankings, or categories, quintiles. The poorest schools are in quintile one and the wealthier schools are in quintile five.
Quintiles 1 to 3 in the province were declared as non-fee status. Quintile 4-5 levels have to raise most money needed for employing security guards, school clerks, secretaries, additional teachers, paying of municipal bills and other material needed to operate the school.
But most schools that are ranked at high quintile levels are battling to raise money needed to fix school buildings.
Dispatch Primary, CW Hendrickse Primary in Uitenhage, Mqhayi High in KwaDwesi, Loyiso High and Ndzondelelo High in Zwide, Masiphathisane High in Motherwell, Gqebera High in Zinyoka and De Vos Malan Primary in Schauderville are among the many schools in Nelson Mandela Bay that are placed on high quintile levels. Yet these schools take in pupils from previously disadvantaged communities where the unemployment rate is very high.
"What frustrates us is that no one from the department of education came to us and told us about this before implementing it. We were told about this after government had implemented the section”, said Masiphathisane High School principal Mzoli Maarman.
"We do not know which criteria the government use to determine a school to be a low quintile. As much as we try to give our learners good education, without proper resources there’s not much we can do.”
Loyiso deputy principal Jerry Mbenge said some of the pupils in the school were from child-headed families.
"You cannot force that child to pay school fees while not having anything to eat at home”, he said.
Mqhayi High School in KwaDwesi was build in 1994 in an up market area, but the majority of pupils who attend the school are from poor areas such as Westville, KwaDwesi Extention, Cleary Park and Zinyoka. School fees are R150 a year but many of the 160 pupils cannot pay this.
A report compiled by Gqebera High School in Zinyoka township which was submitted to the department of education in 2007 in order for it to be declared a no-fee school stated that:
The school is in health deprivation area i.e there is only one clinic servicing the community.
About 65% of the people in the area are unemployed.
About 80% of the people in the area are uneducated with 50% living in RDP houses while the other 50% live in shacks.
The school only received a response this year, rejecting its application.
"No one from the department of education came to visit the school. The department asked us to resubmit our applications again this year but we do not know when they will give us an answer,” said principal Themba Faku.
The school is a quintile five and received R56000 subsidy for this financial year. The department has allocated 10% of the money to be used to pay off municipal bills yet the schools bills are more than R100000 for this year.
Eastern Cape Education Department Loyiso Pulumani said schools placed at high quintile levels were in a better position to undertake their own fundraising.
Pulumani said government looked at the locality of the school and condition of the community before it allocate a quintile level.
He said some of the schools whose applications were turned down this year should apply again next year.
Pulumani also said for the year 2009, all quintile 1-3 schools in the province had been declared as qualifying for no fee status. In Nelson Mandela Bay out of the 70 public schools, 36 primary schools fall under the quintile 1 to 3 category and 13 high schools.
"Over time the government hopes to attain no-fee status for all schools in the province, thus realising the dream of free education for all,” he said.
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