ABOUT 424 PRIMARY SCHOOLS in the Western Cape may soon scrap school fees if they opt for status as a "no fee" school. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has offered this option to these schools, for implementation from 1 May 2006, which will benefit a total of 146,192 (or 15.9%) learners attending public ordinary schools.

The offer forms part of the roll-out of a new national policy to scrap fees in poor schools. President Thabo Mbeki has signed the Education Laws Amendment Act 24 of 2005 on 26 January this year (2006) to allow the national Minister of Education to identify categories of schools that may not charge school fees.

Education MECs in the provinces will use these categories to identify "no fee" schools. The national and provincial education departments use five quintiles to classify schools, with the poorest schools in the first quintile and the least poor schools in the fifth quintile.

From 2007 we intend to cover all National Quintile 1 – 3 schools (both primary and secondary) in the Western Cape. This will mean that all those schools with 37,6% of all our poorest learners will be receiving a Norms and Standards allocation of at least R554 per learner.

From 2008 we intend moving to the national targets for 2008 currently set at R772 per learner for the poorest quintile (first 6,5% of our learners), R711 for the 2nd poorest quintile (next 8% of our learners) and R581 for the 3rd poorest quintile (next 23,1% of our learners). No school will receive less than they currently receive when the ‘no fee status’ system is fully implemented.

The national Department of Education (DoE) will determine the poverty rankings for the quintiles, which are also used to allocate norms and standards funding for running costs and learning support materials.

The DoE will base the poverty ranking of schools on the relative poverty of the community surrounding the school. Stats SA provides the information needed for these rankings.

The DoE will rank schools throughout the country according to national quintiles, and provinces will allocate norms and standards funding according to these rankings. Schools will be able to scrap school fees if they have to rely on the State to provide more than a certain level of support per learner, known as the "adequacy benchmark funding level". This level is currently R527 per learner, including the norms and standards allocations already issued for 2006/07.

The Education Laws Amendment Act comes into effect from 1 January 2007. As an interim measure, provinces may invite schools to apply for "no fee" status for the remainder of the 2006/07 financial year, depending on funds available to provide additional support for them.

The Education Laws Amendment Act is an important provision in realising both the vision of the Freedom Charter (The doors of learning and culture shall be opened!) and the Constitutional Right of everyone to a basic education¼ , which the state, through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and accessible.

Parents of children attending "no fee" schools will therefor not have to pay school fees, and will not have to apply for exemption from paying school fees. "No fee" schools will also supply all learners with support materials.

"No fee" schools will still have to prepare budgets as well as keep records of funds received and spent in line with the provisions of the South African Schools Act. The WCED will phase in "no fee" school status on a voluntary basis during the 2006/07 financial year.

The department will allocate R29-million during the 2006/07 financial year for this initiative, followed by amounts of R139-million and R237-million 2007/08 and 2008/09 respectively.

Because of limited funds available for the 2006/07 financial year, the WCED will focus on the poorest primary schools as part of the first phase of implementing "no fee" school status. The WCED has therefore approached the schools to opt voluntarily for "no fee" status this year.

The department will continue phasing in the implementation of this policy in 2007/08, with a view to completing this process during the 2008/09 financial year, at schools representing about 37.6% of our learners.

Schools wishing apply for "no fee" status during the 2006/07 financial year must do so by 21 April 2006. The WCED will begin allocating funds to approved "no fee schools" in May 2006.

Schools granted this status will receive norms and standards funding of R527 per learner for this 2006/07 financial year. This will include the norms and standards funding already allocated to these schools.

The WCED will pay the difference between the current norms and standards allocation and the adequacy benchmark funding level of R527 per learner on two amounts, in May and November 2006.

The no fee status only removes the requirement of charging of compulsory school fees. Requesting parents and local businesses for voluntary contributions to the school should still be regarded as an important way of attracting much needed additional financial resources to schools.

The adequacy benchmark level is more than the schools fees raised by majority of the qualifying schools and, therefore, those schools should be better resourced. Furthermore, the burden placed on the school governing bodies and staff to collect school fees will be eased, thereby ensuring more focus on education in the classroom.

The department will meet representatives of the 424 schools identified for the first phase of the project within the following two weeks, to clarify what is involved in applying for "no fee" school status.

As we roll out the "no fee" schools, it remains the duty of the school principals to continue to inform parents of their right to apply for full or partial exemption.

I want to emphasise that no learner can be refused entry to any public school if the parents cannot afford fees levied by that school. Illegal practices, such as withholding reports and charging non-refundable admin fees, will be acted against firmly.

Where school fees are still charged, I want to urge parents to continue paying these fees. Parents should attend annual budget meetings of schools and be part of determining school fees. They have a right to full information as to how the budget is being used.

For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938, or gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.