Parents have lost their jobs or had salaries cut; without state help the schools just can’t survive.
Parents’ inability to pay school fees has led to the closure of independent schools because they cannot afford to continue teaching learners, according to the chairperson of the National Alliance of Independent Schools Association .
Schools have attributed their loss of income to parents who have been retrenched or had their salaries cut as a consequence of economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some schools said their parents worked at restaurants, which have been closed during the lockdown. Other parents had not paid school fees even before the pandemic.
“This means that in a school with 100 parents who are supposed to be paying school fees, only 18 are paying. You cannot run a school, pay teachers and pay for all your overheads with only 18 parents paying,” he said, adding that “the collection of school fees and sending out lawyers’ letters of demand is also costly to the schools”.
He explained that when an independent school is closed arrangements are made for learners to be moved into the public school system. The national representative for the South African Montessori Association , Natalie Gross, said three Montessori schools have reported that they will be closing down permanently.“Every school has reported that parents have given notice and have stopped paying fees,” she said. “Schools have had between 5% to 50% of their parents leaving and no longer paying fees.”
Sheri Palmer, of the Academy of Christian Excellence in Amanzimtoti in Durban, said the school retrenched 33% of its staff and reduced the salaries of those left by 50%. She said the situation was so dire that the school was battling to pay rent.
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