Abstract
M.Ed.
In 1994 a new era based on equality and non-discrimination dawned on South Africa, which spelt radical reform in all spheres of government and society. In Education, the challenge was to provide schooling that is uniform in standard and accessible for all learners - a paradigm shift from that of separation of race groups. This shift to redress past inequalities was done through the mechanism of the South African Schools Act that implemented funding reforms to meet the philosophical ideas of the constitutional age. The mechanics of reform is a recurrent cost subsidy, a subsidy to redress previous inequalities and protection of indigent parents, through the exemption clause.
It is the unforeseen ramifications of social stigma on the working of the exemption clause, and a culture of non-payment of fees that impacted heavily on the cash flow of schools leaving them technical insolvent. This research paper focuses on the impact of non-payment of fees on schools.
The literature study identified causes for the great inequality between schools and the purpose and effect of the Act. The research is a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive deconstruction of the factual actuality at issue. This was achieved through individual interviews with the principals of different schools.
The factual complex devolves under four categories:
- Finances: especially calculation of subsidies and payment thereof, as well as, communication between schools and the provincial departments in this respect.
- Budgeting: to cover the liquidity needs of the school, new managerial skills have been acquired by principals coupled with fee collection to maintain liquidity as required by the Act.
- Matters pertaining to the Schools Act: arising from the application of the exemption clause in specific and prevalent scenarios and of the limitations of the Act.
-Collection of fees: to maintain liquidity.