Cash back for fee-exempt pupils

Schools that wrote off R1-billion last year in fee exemptions for poor pupils can now, for the first time, claim compensation.

South Africa's 4518 fee-charging schools - mostly former Model C schools that cater for about 3.7 million pupils - have for years bemoaned the financial impact of exemptions.

Now, quintile four and five schools, which are considered wealthy, could be paid a maximum of R356 and R637, respectively, for every child granted a 100% exemption last year.

Schools that will benefit most are those that charge between R1000 and R2000 a year.

But many schools are unhappy with the compensation plan, which kicks in next month.

Durban's Westville Boys' High, a quintile five school that granted fee exemptions totalling R800000 in 2010, expects only R24000 back.

Fee-charging schools, which collect about R10-billion a year, spend most of their money hiring extra teachers, administrative staff, coaches and non-teaching staff.

Fees have been charged at former Model C schools since 1993, while it became compulsory at other schools from 1997. Since 2007 the government has gradually phased in a no-fee schools' policy, with at least 8.1 million pupils in 19933 schools now exempt from paying.

Ken Ball, principal of South African College High School in the Western Cape, described the compensation as "an insult".

"They can keep it, we don't need it. We carry so many kids anyway and we give so many scholarships out and so many bursaries."

His school's governing body pays the salaries of 31 teachers, while the provincial education department employs 22 teachers.

He said the process of applying for compensation was tedious. Besides providing audited financial statements, schools had to submit pupil attendance registers, school admission registers and exemption application forms.

Sara Gon, chairman of Greenside High's governing body, said the costs involved in obtaining a refund were "greater than the benefit". The Johannesburg school budgeted R5.7-million for fee exemptions and unpaid fees that parents who had not applied for exemption had undertaken to pay. Fees were R20350 a year.

"The children whose parents obtain exemption can receive nearly R22000 worth of exemption, while the amount reimbursed by the Gauteng Education Department is inconsequential," she said.

The governing body has budgeted R8.9-million for the salaries of 26 teachers, six administrative staff and five groundsmen. The school receives a R130000 subsidy from the province's Education Department.

Tony Reeler, principal of Pretoria Boys' High, whose school fees this year are R24500 a pupil, said it made no sense to spend money getting back what may only be a few hundred rands.

His school, which granted fewer than 50 fee exemptions last year, uses its hefty R65-million budget to pay the salaries of 50 of the 101 teachers and 69 support staff.

But Vishnu Naidoo, principal of Buffelsdale Secondary in Tongaat, whose school has been operating on a shoestring budget, welcomed the initiative.

Although his school charged an annual fee of R800 last year, he was forced to offer fee exemptions to at least 73% of his pupils.

"We receive R80000 from the department, but we can't touch R48000 because this has to be used to buy textbooks." Providing a textbook for each pupil cost R160000, he said.

Roger Millson, executive officer of the Governing Body Foundation for the five inland provinces, said they were urging their members to claim compensation. "Even if schools get back only a fraction of what they had written off through exemptions, it's worthwhile."

The Director-General of the Department of Basic Education, Bobby Soobrayan, said pupils in fee-paying schools could not be given a higher subsidy than those in free schools.

"We can't because, practically, schools can exempt a whole lot of pupils, set their fees high and get the state to pay."

While the department may consider alternatives if the application procedures are too cumbersome, Soobrayan said the department needed to ensure that regulations were "watertight".