Section 153 of the National Norms and Standards for School Funding states that school fees must not be allowed to become an obstacle in the schooling process, or a barrier preventing access to schooling. No-fee schools in SA are legally prohibited from charging formal school fees, but they often pressure parents for “voluntary donations,” which is unlawful, especially when it prevents a child’s education. While schools can encourage voluntary contributions or fundraising for extra resources, compelling payments, even for things such as security or tutors, or denying access for non-payment, violates the SA Schools Act (Sasa) and the constitutional right to basic education.
Schools in SA are ranked according to a quintile system, where the poorest schools are at quintile 1 and the richest at quintile 5. Quintiles 1, 2 and 3 schools are no-fee schools, and receive a determined funding proportion per pupil from the department of education. The SA Schools Act 84 of 1996 especially refers to fundraising, stating it imposes a responsibility on all public school governing bodies (SGB) to do their utmost to improve the quality of education in their schools by raising additional resources to supplement those which the state provides from public funds.
The act provides that schools must be funded through public funds. To address past inequities in the school funding model, the act allows for certain schools in more affluent areas to raise their own funds, while government subsidises pupils in poorer schooling areas in full. All parents, but particularly those who have good incomes, are thereby encouraged to increase their own direct financial and other contributions towards the quality of their children’s education in public schools.
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The act does not interfere unreasonably with parents’ discretion under the law as to how to spend their own resources on their children’s education. In essence, there are two messages going out at the same time here.
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