MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) says many schools have been struggling to pay staff and other expenses due to a decrease in fee collection from parents.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond told the Mossel Bay Advertiser many schools relied on their fee collection to pay salaries of the additional school governing body posts, over and above the salaries of those in their establishment provided by the department.

Hammond says although Western Cape Education Department educators are not affected, the staff that are appointed by the governing body are reliant on funds generated by the school governing body.

She says schools are trying to do what they can to support their teachers who are school governing body appointed, but says, if parents do not pay fees, it is a definite struggle. "There are over 11 000 educators in school governing body posts in the Western Cape Province."

Hammond says the department has encouraged parents to pay school fees, where possible, throughout the National State of Disaster. "It is, however, understandable that many parents could have had a loss of income over the past few months. Parents who have been laid off or whose contracts have been cancelled and are unemployed can apply for fee exemption. It is important the parents do fill in these forms if they qualify, as these forms are then sent to the department by schools when applying for fee compensation."

According to TPN Credit Bureau, collecting fees is the largest challenge facing schools.

Credit checks
The bureau says in a statement government's budget allocation for basic education is under increased pressure as a growing number of parents with children at fee-paying public schools find they can no longer afford school fees.

An inability to collect all fees owing has negative implications for schools, both from a budgeting and sustainability perspective, given that school fees are the largest source of income for more than 90% of private schools and 60% of public schools.

At the same time parents at fee-paying public schools cite the high cost of school fees among their top three school-related issues, along with a lack of textbooks and the fact that there are too many children in one class.

"The challenge facing many schools, even prior to the Covid-19 crisis, is that paying school fees is not a high priority among a growing body of parents who are prioritising mortgages, rent, car finance, store cards and even pay day loans over school fees," says Michelle Dickens, managing director of TPN Credit Bureau.

Dickens says schools are able to make use of credit checks, letters of demand and blacklisting in the same way that any business does. "Although it is always necessary to get permission to perform a credit check, a parent applying for an exemption from school fees is usually happy to provide this permission," she says.

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