Education
Question by:
Hon Lorraine Botha
Answered by:
Hon Debbie Schäfer
Question Number:
7
Question Body:
- How many schools have applied to be placed in a lower quintile during the (i) 2019/20 and (ii) 2020/21 financial year to date, (b) how many were successful in each year and (c) for those schools that were unsuccessful, what were the reasons?
Answer Body:
(a)- (b) The table below represents the number of schools which applied for both quintile and/or fee status changes, as well as the outcome of their applications, during 2019/20 and 2020/21
Outcome | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Total |
Approved | 5 | 3 | 8 |
Rejected | 13 | 1 | 14 |
Total | 2 |
Only one quintile change was approved (in 2019/20) – the remainder of the approved applications were for fee status changes.
(c) The reasons for unsuccessful applications vary and include:
- Quintile changes are not feasible as the current provincial percentage in quintile allocation is aligned to the national quintile percentage allocation.
- The quintile system was introduced through the publication of the National Norms and Standards for School Funding in 1998, and schools were identified per quintile based on the poverty levels of the areas at that time.
- In terms of section 39(7) of the South African Schools Act, Minister Motshekga has determined that 60% of all learners in the country should be in quintiles 1 to 3. The 2019 National Poverty Distribution Table allowed for 40.3% of Western Cape learners to be allocated to no-fee schools.
- The schools’ quintile allocation is in line with the quintile of surrounding schools.
- Schools are top ranked in terms of their poverty rating within its quintile, making other poorer schools more eligible for a quintile change consideration.
- The change will have a significant financial implication to the WCED.
- The quintile change will not have any gained financial benefit to the school.
Date:
Friday, September 11, 2020
