Dear Editor
In a reply to an oral question this week, Minister David Maynier stated that the WCED will be offering 161 fee-charging schools in quintiles 4 and 5 no-fee statuses from the beginning of next year. The respective schools will now receive guidance on how to navigate the application process.
This is yet another proactive initiative to ensure that every child has access to the quality education our province has to offer.
The identified schools form part of the total 554 quintile 4 and 5 institutions in the Western Cape. Since their current annual fees are lower than the no-fee threshold of R1 610 per year, the WCED believes that this move would benefit the surrounding poorer communities and the school-going children.
Despite this decision being made possible by the additional budget from the Provincial Treasury, the national quintile system remains a massive hurdle in terms of allocating funding to schools. In this system, schools are divided into five groups in which quintile 1 is the “poorest” and quintile 5 is the “least poor” in terms of the where the school is located. However, this system does not necessarily speak to the socio-economic status of the student and therefore results in inefficient funding being allocated to provincial departments.
MPP Deidre Baartman says: “This is an issue the Western Cape has been lobbying for years to be changed and is something even the ANC in the province supports being changed. We hope that the national government will be cognisant of this as they review the current education funding model. As the DA, we look forward Minister Maynier taking up this battle to ensure that the Western Cape receives the funding it deserves.”
Regards
Deidré Baartman, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education
