ActionSA’s intervention in Leeu Gamka, a town in the Western Cape’s Central Karoo District, has saved parents of learners who attend the no-fee Bastiaanse Secondary School, from having to pay for books and hostel admission fees.
Bastiaanse Secondary School issued a notice to parents informing them that it was “compulsory” for them to buy books and stationery for their children. Parents were also instructed to pay R300.00 per child for a once-off hostel “registration” fee.
ActionSA wrote to the Western Cape Education Department (Beaufort West District) setting out the problems faced by these Leeu Gamka parents. She argued that Bastiaanse Secondary School is a no-fee school and that the parents are not in a financial position to buy the books and pay the registration fee.
ActionSA also pointed out that, if there were a high school in Leeu Gamka, there would be no need for the children to go to hostels in other towns. Despite repeated requests from the Leeu Gamka community for high school facilities, the Western Cape Provincial Education Department has declined to allocate the necessary funding. Learners from Leeu Gamka are therefore left with no choice but to go to hostel and attend a high school far away from their homes and families.
As a result of ActionSA’s intervention, Bastiaanse Sekondêre Skool withdrew its instruction that parents must buy stationery, books and pay a hostel “admission fee”.
Members of the community, however, spoke to ActionSA about how other no-fee schools in the Central Karoo Education District are also demanding that parents buy stationery and pay fees. ActionSA therefore calls on Western Cape Minister of Education, MEC David Maynier, to issue an instruction to all School Governing Bodies of no-fee schools in the Central Karoo that this practice be stopped with immediate effect, and to ensure that any fees taken from these parents are reimbursed.
ActionSA’s letter to the Department of Education also requested that learners be provided with regular transport between Leeu Gamka and the hostels at no charge. With schools opening this coming week, many parents and learners who cannot afford transport will have to hitch-hike on the N1 from Leeu Gamka to the hostels, which is extremely unsafe.
The Western Cape Education Department responded to ActionSA’s request for free, regular transport for learners by saying that the district is in the process of applying for a route to transport learners for a specified number of trips per quarter, but that the approval thereof could not be guaranteed “as this will result in a ‘double subsidy’ for these learners.”
It would be morally bankrupt for the Western Cape Education Department to refuse to provide high school facilities in Leeu Gamka, and then also not provide learners with transport to and from the hostels they are forced to live in.
At a community meeting held with ActionSA on Saturday, parents complained that, because of the high cost of transport and the risk involved in hitch-hiking, children are simply dropping out of school. It is noteworthy that, according to its own IDP document, only 8% of Prince Albert’s population has finished secondary school.
ActionSA calls on MEC David Maynier to urgently, as a short-term solution, approve free, regular transport for learners from Leeu Gamka to the hostels they attend.
Most important though, is for high school facilities to be provided for learners in Leeu Gamka and ActionSA calls on MEC Maynier to commit to this happening as a matter of urgency.
ActionSA will continue fight for the poor, marginalized and forgotten people of the Western Cape.
ActionSA Successfully Intervenes to Protect No-fee School Parents in Western Cape
ActionSA’s intervention in Leeu Gamka, a town in the Western Cape’s Central Karoo District, has saved parents of learners who attend the no-fee Bastiaanse Secondary School, from having to pay for books and hostel admission fees.
Bastiaanse Secondary School issued a notice to parents informing them that it was “compulsory” for them to buy books and stationery for their children. Parents were also instructed to pay R300.00 per child for a once-off hostel “registration” fee.
ActionSA wrote to the Western Cape Education Department (Beaufort West District) setting out the problems faced by these Leeu Gamka parents. She argued that Bastiaanse Secondary School is a no-fee school and that the parents are not in a financial position to buy the books and pay the registration fee.
ActionSA also pointed out that, if there were a high school in Leeu Gamka, there would be no need for the children to go to hostels in other towns. Despite repeated requests from the Leeu Gamka community for high school facilities, the Western Cape Provincial Education Department has declined to allocate the necessary funding. Learners from Leeu Gamka are therefore left with no choice but to go to hostel and attend a high school far away from their homes and families.
As a result of ActionSA’s intervention, Bastiaanse Sekondêre Skool withdrew its instruction that parents must buy stationery, books and pay a hostel “admission fee”.
Members of the community, however, spoke to ActionSA about how other no-fee schools in the Central Karoo Education District are also demanding that parents buy stationery and pay fees. ActionSA therefore calls on Western Cape Minister of Education, MEC David Maynier, to issue an instruction to all School Governing Bodies of no-fee schools in the Central Karoo that this practice be stopped with immediate effect, and to ensure that any fees taken from these parents are reimbursed.
ActionSA’s letter to the Department of Education also requested that learners be provided with regular transport between Leeu Gamka and the hostels at no charge. With schools opening this coming week, many parents and learners who cannot afford transport will have to hitch-hike on the N1 from Leeu Gamka to the hostels, which is extremely unsafe.
The Western Cape Education Department responded to ActionSA’s request for free, regular transport for learners by saying that the district is in the process of applying for a route to transport learners for a specified number of trips per quarter, but that the approval thereof could not be guaranteed “as this will result in a ‘double subsidy’ for these learners.”
It would be morally bankrupt for the Western Cape Education Department to refuse to provide high school facilities in Leeu Gamka, and then also not provide learners with transport to and from the hostels they are forced to live in.
At a community meeting held with ActionSA on Saturday, parents complained that, because of the high cost of transport and the risk involved in hitch-hiking, children are simply dropping out of school. It is noteworthy that, according to its own IDP document, only 8% of Prince Albert’s population has finished secondary school.
ActionSA calls on MEC David Maynier to urgently, as a short-term solution, approve free, regular transport for learners from Leeu Gamka to the hostels they attend.
Most important though, is for high school facilities to be provided for learners in Leeu Gamka and ActionSA calls on MEC Maynier to commit to this happening as a matter of urgency.
ActionSA will continue fight for the poor, marginalized and forgotten people of the Western Cape.