Clarity on independent school subsidy
21 August 2017
Earlier this month, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee released a press statement that indicated that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) provides subsidies to 101 independent schools. What the statement did not clarify is the basis on which these subsidies are provided to independent schools.
The subsidy is, in fact, only provided to independent schools that serve poorer communities.
Some organisations are trying to create the impression that we are funding wealthy private schools, which is not the case.
There are currently 254 independent schools across the province. The WCED provides a subsidy to 101 schools which serve low income households. Of these, 24 are no-fee independent schools while the remainder are low fee independent schools.