The public education system is increasingly depending on funding by parents
The average fee is rising at a rate way above that of inflation, while the income of the average household is stagnant or in decline.
Investing in a child's education is the number one priority for most parents. So for a parent to default on the payment of school fees suggests very difficult personal financial circumstances.
The effect of defaulting is felt by other parents.
The school's fixed expenses have to be paid, so fees are increased to make up for the fee-payment shortfall.
Though the increasing cost of education is most dramatically illustrated by the fees of "model C" and private schools, the rising fees of less expensive schools are also affecting less affluent parents.
Since 1994, the government has promised its people free and compulsory education. It has, to a large extent, delivered on this promise.
But there are signs that the public education system is increasingly depending on funding by parents.
The government needs to look closely at how its education budget is spent and eliminate expenses that it cannot afford, such as the costly experimentation with Outcomes-Based Education.
In yesterday's edition of this newspaper, columnist and University of the Free State rector and vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen quoted from a heartbreaking letter written by a teacher living in poverty despite decades of success in the classroom.
Teachers and principals must become the priorities of the education authorities and of society as a whole.
Wasteful spending must be slashed in favour of improving teachers' pay and their status in society.
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