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The government can’t seem to settle on a legitimate plan to reopen schools during the national lockdown.

When we downgraded to alert level 4, they announced that schools would reopen gradually over the course of a few months starting on May 1 with higher grades, and slowly moving down the list until grade 1 and 2 returned to school in July.

Then, just over an hour later, the decision was reversed, and a new start date was set forth (May 18), but that is also subject to change.

As parents educate their kids at home (my condolences), many have started to ask questions regarding whether or not they should continue to pay school fees while schools are shut down.

702 spoke to Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi, and Independent School Association of Southern Africa’s executive director Lebogang Montjane, to gain some clarity on the situation moving forward.

Here’s the breakdown:

Parents who can afford to pay fees should keep paying fees

Panyaza Lesufi:

This amount that you are paying every month, you might find that you are paying for an additional teacher…you might lose a skilled or qualified teacher, purely because there were no payments because 70% of the running costs of the school goes to the payment of educators, so it is very crucial that when you take that kind of decision that you take it in the interests of your child and the school rather than your personal interests.

If parents with children at public schools feel that they cannot afford fees, they should approach the Governing Body.

Panyaza Lesufi:

The determination of the school fees and the payment of school fees is only a decision of the SGB and parents of that particular school. Government, the district or department doesn’t get involved. The only time we get involved is when the school submits their audited financial statements to us.

So if parents feel that they cannot afford to pay, the simplest thing is to petition the SGB, convene that meeting of the SGB and indicate to that SGB the limitations.

If you have a child at a private school and can’t afford to pay fees, you should approach the school

Lebogang Montjane:

Most schools are really working with parents because they want to retain the children and the parents at the school as much as possible.

They must please approach their school as soon as possible. Approach the school, tell them your circusmtances and I think that most schools will be very understanding.

You can listen to the full interview, here:

If you’re thinking about moving your child’s education online (a smart move in these unpredictable circumstances), you should first familiarise yourself with the difference between online learning and remote learning.

For the first time, we are seeing completely online high schools offering a fully-realised international faculty, student body, and accreditation that rivals some of the best private schools in the world.

Valenture Institute is one such global online high school.

They also understand that, due to the global crisis, parents are under a lot of pressure with loss of incomes, school closures, and children that need to keep up with their education. That’s why they have created a payment concession to alleviate school fee penalties in the transition to online learning when your child enrols at the Institute.

After successful admission, the Institute will offer a fee discount to alleviate the financial burden in these uncertain times. The fee discount will be applied on a case by case basis and dependent on the payment agreement with their current education provider.

You can find out more about what Valenture offers via their website.

[source:702]