Pierneef Primary School’s BackaBuddy fundraiser. (Photo: BackaBuddy)
Not all quintile 5 schools can be considered affluent schools today.
According to Solidarity’s Teachers’ Network, more than 200 of Pierneef Primary School’s 500 learners’ parents in Pretoria have already applied for a waiver of the school fee. Other parents simply cannot or do not want to pay.
Johan Botha, head of Solidarity’s Teacher Network, says this and the fact that the Gauteng Department of Basic Education drastically reduced its funding to the school, ultimately led to this Pretoria primary school having to start a crowdfunding campaign (BackABuddy) to meet its financial obligations.
Moreover, Pierneef Primary School is not the only school struggling to keep its doors open.
According to Botha, there are a number of schools in Gauteng where the socio-economic circumstances of learners and parents have changed drastically without the quintile status of the school being adjusted to take these circumstances into account.
“Outdated quintile classifications do not necessarily reflect the real needs of the school and its community,” explains Botha.
Maroela Media reported earlier this week that many Gauteng quintile 5 schools’ funding has been almost halved this year – from more than R800 per learner per year to R315 from this year.
Many schools, including Pierneef Primary School, have not even received the department’s funding for 2025 yet.
Botha says subsidies are adjusted downwards while more and more children’s parents cannot afford the school fees, which puts schools under increasing financial pressure.
Matome Chiloane, Gauteng MEC of Education. (Photo: Provided)
Botha then points out that schools are often forced to charge school fees, not only for operating expenses or additional activities such as sports, but even to finance additional teachers’ compensation.
“Schools’ real needs are often not sufficiently taken into account and therefore too few departmental posts are allocated to them to be able to ensure quality teaching,” says Botha.
Johnell Prinsloo, education researcher attached to the Solidarity Research Institute (SNI), warns that the current quintile classifications can cause schools to end up in financial difficulties.
“Government subsidies are not always enough to cover even the basic activities of a school for the year.
“When schools are already under financial pressure and parents can no longer pay the school fees, it not only affects the sustainability of the school, but also the quality of education that can be offered to learners,” says Prinsloo.
Botha says it is important that the real socio-economic circumstances of school communities are taken into account when the department determines funding and resources for schools.
“We want to make sure that schools can not only survive, but also thrive, so that children can have a fair chance at quality education,” says Botha.