Student movements had received complaints from parents in the previous week concerning school fees. The Education Department has now given parents some insight into what they should do about school fees.
The Department of Education advises parents to be open and transparent to their respective school principals when financial situations change. This means that parents should tell school management when they cannot afford to pay school fees.
This is understandable as many people were detrimentally affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, it has changed livelihoods.
According to the Department of Basic Education, should parents be in this situation, they ought to apply to the School-Governing Body (SGB) for conditional partial or full exemption from paying school fees.
School principals are also advised against charging school fees to orphans.
Chief Education Specialist, EMGD Nkosana Thakgedi, said:
The school will avail a document for application to the parent and take the application. They should be able to respond to the application that the parent has made within a period of 30 days.
Schools do have a system in place, that’ll indicate whether a parent qualifies for the exemption or not. This information will be accessible to parents once a child has been accepted to a school.
As part of the school’s regulations for school exemption, it is clearly stated that parents have an opportunity to apply for a school fee exemption and parents should make it a priority to educate themselves on such regulations as this will not only benefit them but will save them from a headache in the future.
No parent should be in a position to apply for school fee exemption should about the measures that have been put in place by law that allow parents to can be exempted from school fees.
The Education department has also reminded school principals and SGB’s that no child can be denied the right to basic education especially because a parent cannot pay school fees.
