Cash injection for poorest schools in Eastern Cape

The poorest schools in the Eastern Cape, which have been handicapped by underfunding over the past three years, are breathing a sigh of relief thanks to the intervention of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Makhanda.

For the first time since March 2020, more than 1.5-million pupils attending these schools will receive full funding from the provincial education department.

The department announced during a presentation last Friday, seen by TimesLIVE, that quintile 1-3 schools (poorest schools) will receive R1,602 in norms and standards funding for each pupil.

The 51,150 and 72,321 pupils attending quintile 4 and 5 schools in the Eastern Cape will receive R803 and R278 respectively.

The norms and standards funding determines the per pupil funding per year and is gazetted annually by basic education minister Angie Motshekga.

Initially, the province’s poorest schools were informed they would receive R607.90 per pupil this year, which would have been well below the R1,602 national norm.

The department indicated during the meeting that the norms and standards funding would amount to R2.5bn. Schools use the funding to order textbooks and stationery and pay for maintenance and utilities.

Cecile van Schalkwyk, a lawyer working at the LRC, said they had for months been pressurising the department to “adequately fund” schools in the new financial year which started this month.

Schools were advised that from April 2020 they would only receive 78% of their “paper budgets” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“More bad news followed as schools’ budgets were cut further during the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 financial years and when schools received their paper budgets in November 2022 for the 2023/2024 financial year it again showed a decrease from previous years.”

She said while no-fee-paying schools (quintile 1-3 schools) were entitled to receive R1,602 per pupil for 2023/2024 as determined by Motshekga, schools in the Eastern Cape were told they would only receive R607.90 per pupil.

“This amounted to 38% of the per pupil target and R995 less than what pupils in other provinces would receive for the financial year.

“Since 2020, schools in the province have been struggling to survive the budget cuts and the prospect of another budget reduction for 2023/2024 placed enormous financial pressure on schools.”

Van Schalkwyk said the LRC has been engaging the department on the budget cuts since May last year.

“Repeated correspondence to the department went unanswered and when the 2023/2024 paper budgets were released in November 2022, the LRC indicated it would pursue legal action against the department to challenge the cuts.”

Acting on the instructions of schools in Makhanda, the LRC advised the department the reduction in the paper budgets violated pupils' rights to education, human dignity and equality, and was not in their best interest.

“It discriminated against children in the province, as it meant children educated in the Eastern Cape would receive far less funding than their counterparts in other provinces.”

The department sent a memorandum to schools in January advising them budget cuts were being implemented due to financial constraints.

She said the good news in the revised budget was announced during a principals’ meeting attended by education MEC Fundile Gade in Gqeberha on April 3.

“This decision has now been confirmed during a presentation on April 21 by the department when it was announced that an additional R872.5m had been made available to fund at the national norms and standards target for 2023/2024.

“News of the increased budget is welcome relief for Eastern Cape schools that approached the LRC to act on their behalf in this matter.”

She said the chairperson of the school governing body of Tantyi Primary School in Makhanda, Boniwe Tyota, indicated the revised budget would mean their school would receive about R174,000 more this financial year than was originally budgeted.

“The school has been relying on parents to buy toilet paper and copying paper for the pupils. About 80% of the parents at the school are unemployed and the additional burden of supporting the school has affected families’ ability to care for their children.”

When the school heard its budget would be cut again this year, it started making plans to ask parents to support the school by buying cleaning products to clean the toilets and classrooms.

“The revised paper budget will mean the school will again be able to cover the cost of these expenses and ensure the health and safety of the pupils. It will also alleviate the pressure on parents.”

The chairperson of the governing body of Ntsika Secondary School in Makhanda, Xolisile Tyotha, was overjoyed at the decision. His school’s budget will now more than double from R503,339 to an estimated R1.3m.

Van Schalkwyk said the LRC welcomed the department’s decision, adding: “While none of the schools represented by the LRC have received their revised budgets to date, we will monitor the process and hold the department to its undertaking to issue the budgets.”

She said the way the norms were framed was problematic because it allowed provincial education departments to deviate from the target set by Motshekga, “creating an unequal and discriminatory funding model where some provinces fund below the target amount”.

“The Eastern Cape has seen three years of below-target funding. Despite this, we regard the decision by the department to reissue the paper budgets as an enormous victory for our clients and, in particular, for all pupils in the Eastern Cape.”

Eastern Cape education spokesperson Mali Mtima had not responded at the time of publication.

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