Cape Town - Parents have been encouraged to continue paying school fees during the lockdown despite there being no guarantee that pupils will return to the classroom.
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has confirmed that officials have been meeting and discussing options for the school calendar after the lockdown, but the final decision lies with the national department.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has been vague about the details, and quick to clarify that although the department has considered scrapping the June and September school holidays, nothing has yet been confirmed.
Much depends on when the lockdown ends, and education officials have to be guided by the Presidency and the National Command Council.
In the Western Cape, 105 528 Grade 1 pupils started school this year, and 52 313 Grade 12 pupils are hoping to complete matric.
Now that the pupils are at home and being directed to online resources to continue with their curriculum, parents have to monitor their progress and still pay school fees.
The department has encouraged parents to pay school fees, where possible. A letter to principals at the beginning of the lockdown from the head of the WCED indicated parents should continue to pay fees.
WCED education spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: “The department has encouraged parents to pay school fees, where possible. A letter to principals at the beginning of lockdown from the HoD indicated his view on this - that parents should continue to pay fees. Many schools rely on fees to pay SGB staff.
“Parents who have been laid off or have had contracts cancelled and are unemployed can apply for fee-exemption. Forms can be collected at schools once they reopen.
“It is important that parents fill in these forms if they qualify; these forms are then sent to the WCED.”
The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa confirmed in a statement that parents were legally obligated to pay fees if their children had been registered at a private school.
Professor Rouaan Maarman, the deputy dean of research and postgraduate studies in the education faculty at the University of the Western Cape, said there should be no talk of scrapping the 2020 school calendar.
He said: “Closing schools for the rest of 2020 is not an option, as most learners do not live in fairly stable and safe home environments. Hunger, exposure to violence, the lure of crime to survive both economically and socially, are all issues that are somehow mitigated by attending school, where learners are fed daily, are part of a structured school programme, in an environment with purpose.”
“We might not think much of our current schooling system, but it does engage learners, in their thousands, in a structured way. Taking that away will leave many learners at the mercy of their challenging community environments.”
This would be the perfect time for the Basic Education Department to make much-needed changes in the classroom.
“I suggest this pandemic gives us the opportunity to relook at the schooling system and ask invasive questions, and re-imagine schooling to salvage some of the academic year as safely as possible.”