Helderberg
Year 16 • Tuesday 12 June 2012 | Tel. 021 853 0211
Schools cut off Swamped NICOLE MCCAIN
Macassar schools are struggling to make ends meet in the face of severe budget restrictions by the education department – which has grouped these learning institutions with more affluent schools in the Helderberg Schools are classified by the education department on a scale of one to five according to how financially stable the area around the school is. This system, called the “quintile” system, sees the education department award the most funding to quintile-one schools, which are in the poorest areas. The least funding is given to quintile-five schools, which are in the most affluent areas. However, the four primary and two high schools in Macassar and Firgrove are all classified as quintile-five schools – and thus get the lowest rate of funding from the education department. They are lumped together with Somerset West high schools such as Gordon High and Parel Vallei, because they fall in the same area, say Macassar principals Yusuf Abrahams of Macassar Secondary and Vernon Hendricks of Firgrove Primary. Rusthof Secondary and Strand Secondary are classified as quintile-four schools, while Khanyolwethu and Simanyene High Schools in Lwandle are classified as quintile-three schools. Hope Mokgatlhe, ministerial spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education, says the quintiles are “determined by the provinces, using national guidelines”. Bronagh Casey, spokesperson for Western Cape education MEC Donald Grant, confirms this, but says the national guidelines give the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) very little leeway. She explains that schools in quintiles one, two and three are “no-fee schools” – and are attended by 40% of the pupils in the province – while schools in quintiles four and five charge school fees. Hendricks says Firgrove receives less than 15% of its budget from the education department. However, roughly 50% of parents in the area are unemployed, according to Abrahams. Ronald Rass, deputy principal at Macassar Primary, says between 50% and 60% of his parents are unemployed and unable to pay the school fees of R350 per year. Parents are only able to pay about
10% of the fees, Rass estimates, which forces the school to rely on fundraising and donations from sponsors. Abrahams says many pupils are unable to afford books and stationery, and will often go through a whole term without having a notebook. Macassar Secondary is also reliant on donations from past pupils, he says. Roughly 110 of the school’s 770 pupils are exempt from school fees, which creates a shortfall of R80 000. He often worries about where he will find the money to pay the telephone bill, and this even after the school has used the WCED’s subsidy for pupils who are exempt from paying school fees. Firgrove Primary has a feeding scheme for 280 pupils, says Hendricks, which he says shows that the pupils don’t come from wealthy homes – “they come to school hungry”. Hendricks says the lack of funding means Firgrove can’t hire additional teachers; maintenance and repairs have to be prioritised. “We can’t afford to replace our fence, which is 25 years old.” Casey explains that the WCED has allocated over R40 million to more than 500 schools in the province to help quintile-four and -five schools whose pupils receive fee exemptions. Abrahams says the school governing bodies decide which pupils are exempted, and a portion of the fees is paid by the WCED. Macassar Secondary received less than R20 000 in subsidies, a far cry from the amount Abrahams estimates is needed. Casey says the subsidies have limited success if the system is flawed. “Ultimately the problem lies with the quintile system.” According to Casey, MEC Grant has on a number of occasions asked basic education minister Angie Motshekga to review the system. Mokgatlhe says a school can apply at provincial level to be placed at a lower quintile. However, Casey says this is not often successful, due to the strict nature of the national guidelines.
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Andile Gxashe, a member of the residents’ committee of New Town in Solly’s Town, Strand, shows one of the homes flooded by heavy rains last week. Mandy Thomas of Disaster Risk Management says 280 people were affected by the flooding in Solly’s Town. Other areas flooded during the heavy rains were Rasta Camp in Sir Lowry’s Pass, and Morkel Cottage and Pholile Park, both in the Strand. Thomas says almost 1 000 people were affected in total. Photo: NICOLE MCCAIN
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