According to Stats SA, education fees, which is surveyed once a year in March, indicated that education was 6.3% more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2023. Dr Jeeva Naidoo, principal of Dawnridge Secondary School, in Chatsworth, said the fees last year for Grade R pupils was R1 500 and R1200 for grades 1 to 7.
Many parents are battling the back to school crunch, trying to meet the rising costs of school fees, transport, stationery and uniforms.
Principals are also bracing themselves for a tough financial year ahead and said they had choice but to increase fees to meet the schools monthly bills.
Dr Jeeva Naidoo, principal of Dawnridge Secondary School, in Chatsworth, said the fees last year for Grade R pupils was R1 500 and R1200 for grades 1 to 7.
This year, parents would have to fork out R2 000 for Grade R and R1 500 for grades 1 to 7.
“There are 1 000 children at our school and last year only 60% of the school fees was paid. The major costs, which rely solely on the payment of school fees, are the School Governing Body (SGB) staff appointments, the maintenance of the school, municipal accounts, computer upgrades and infrastructure development.
“The challenge is the parents who can afford to pay the fee but do not. They come up with all sorts of excuses, including that they do not have money. We cannot operate as we should due to the non-payment of fees. To try improve our coffers, we employ debt collectors and blacklist defaulters. But this too is not a deterrent for defaulters. We urgently need ways to recover unpaid school fees so that we can function effectively as a school,” Naidoo said.
A principal of a secondary school in Phoenix, who did not want to be named as he was not mandated to speak to the media, said the fees had only increased by R100 for grades 8 to 11 and R150 for matric pupils.
“We had to keep our increase low because as it stands parents cannot afford to pay. Fees are R1 400 per year. Last year, we had 565 pupils and we only received about 55% of the school fees. We rely on school fees to pay for utilities and security. Additional teaching and non-teaching staff is another major expense.
“We understand that there are parents who are unemployed and are cash-strapped. However, working parents are also failing to pay fees. It seems like school fees are last on the list of priorities for all parents. The Department of Education needs to rank schools according to parents' ability to pay fees. They also need to take care of the cleaning and security services to lighten our financial burden,” he added.
Another principal from a secondary school in Chatsworth, who also did not want to be named, said their fees was under R5 000 per year for 2025.
“Most schools do not increase school fees despite the rising costs of utilities and other expenses. Pupil intake ranges across schools from between 500 to 1 200 and all schools are largely dependent on the payment of fees for sustainability. However, at most schools only 10 to 20% of parents meet these financial responsibilities.
“We then have to resort to fundraising initiatives to meet our school’s monthly financial obligations. However, these initiatives are not always successful. We need money to pay for the electricity and water bills, stationery, printing purchasing paper, general maintenance and cleaning, repairs and most importantly to pay for additional teachers to augment the shortfall,” she added.
She said the non-payment of school fees made schools financially cripple and they were unable to provide the basics for learning and teaching.
“We end up with larger class sizes, a lack of sporting facilities or programmes, poor school infrastructure, lagging technology and a host of other problems that in the end only short changes the pupils.
“We are also seeing more and more parents applying for school fee exemptions and this exacerbates the problem. We encourage corporate businesses to adopt schools and more community involvement to assist us. Schools are in dire need of support and every bit of assistance counts towards the education of our nation and the betterment of our communities and children,” she said.
Dr Erna de Lange, the KZN chief operating officer of the Governing Body Foundation, said the current economic climate was impacting payment of school fees.
“The average income household is finding it increasingly difficult to pay school fees. Schools have really tightened their belts and tried to keep increases as low as possible. Generally speaking the new budgets were accepted by the parents. There might have been the odd dispute but nothing that could not be settled.
“Schools and SGBs are expected to do the near impossible. The biggest challenge is staffing. Ensuring a teacher in every classroom is a nightmare. This year will be particularly challenging as there is a cut back on the staff establishment of schools. Some schools lost as many as 11 staff members. This is appalling. No fee-paying school could afford to fill these vacancies from their own pockets. The cutback was unrealistic.
“A further challenge is the late payment by the department of norms and standards funding. Not only was payment late last year, but the allocation is a drop in the bucket. Quintile 5 schools get R179 per learner per annum. That could cover three-month's worth of water and electricity bills,” she added.
De Lange said this puts an enormous strain on school budgets and was considerably less than payment in other provinces.
“The department is not contributing towards exemptions granted by SGBs for non or partial payment. Their contribution brought some relief in the past but it has been stopped. Financial support from the department is minimal. It is not easy to find donors so fundraising is part of an ongoing struggle to make ends meet.
“At the last count 72.6% of KZN schools were no-fee schools and parents don't want their children in under-resourced schools and then ask for concessions the moment the application is accepted. SGBs normally budget for some exemptions but it means less income for the school and school fees have to increase to meet expenses. It is a cycle that adds no value, cannot be sustained and is a road to nowhere.
“As far as school fee payment goes, every parent must make a decision when applying for admission. This must be based on if they can afford the school. If the answer is no, then they should find a school where fees are affordable. This entitlement of parents will impact negatively on education. Every parent must pay something. Even R10 a week would help the school,” she said.
According to Stats SA, education fees, which is surveyed once a year in March, indicated that education was 6.3% more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2023. This exceeds the 5.7% annual increase in 2023 and is the highest since 2020 when the rate was 6.4%. High schools recorded the most significant increase in 2024 (up 7.3%), followed by primary schools and tertiary institutions (both up by 5.9%). Crèches were also surveyed and had increased their fees by 6.0%.
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