The probable implication of declaring schools as fee-paying and no-fee-paying on the secondary schools financial management in Soshanguve

Abstract

The research centres on the degree to which the no-fee-paying policy is influencing the financial management of schools in Soshanguve. The no-fee-paying policy stems from the Education Laws Amendment Act 24 of 2005 according to which the levying of mandatory fees was abolished at public schools that are declared no-fee-paying institutions. The state funded these newly declared no-fee-paying schools in order to create greater access to quality education and to improve the educational resources and equipment in impoverished schools. According to the findings of this research, there is little or no financial management in the former underprivileged schools in Soshanguve. This lack of proper financial management in these schools appears to be due to the lack of capacity within both the schools and the school governing bodies themselves. In addition, there appears to be a lack of equality and equity between the formerly underprivileged schools and the advantaged schools. In the words of Fiske and Ladd (2004b:248), equality and equity seem to be elusive. Schools in the cities are still advantaged since the parents are paying fees and schools are managing their funds, while parents in the township schools (especially in Soshanguve) have been found to be unsupportive financially. This is probably because communities around the schools are, in the main, poverty stricken.