Angry parents have raised the alarm after the management of Ysterplaat Junior Primary School in Brooklyn started charging laaities a gate fare for being “too early” and “too late” for school.
According to a letter issued to parents, the school starts at 8am and if learners arrive between 7am and 7.30am, they are charged R20. This is now known as “ before school service”.
When classes are dismissed, parents are forced to fetch their children within 15 minutes or they are charged R30. The letter reads: “Learners enter school at 7.30am, before school service is available from 7am at a cost of R20 a day. No entry to learners without the R20 and no arrangements to pay the R20 at a later stage.”
An angry parent, who asked not to be named, says she is gatvol as the school has been charging for about two years.
She says: “Some parents can’t help that the children are late due to transport or unforeseen situations, but why must we pay if we are already paying school fees and supporting the school with their functions?
“We don’t know what the money is used for because no renovations are being done at the school.”
“When my son was in Grade 1, I dropped him off once in the morning at 7.15am and the gates were still closed, that was winter time when it was raining and pouring.
“So I had to get my son into transport because it wasn’t safe to leave him there and just go to work.”
The principal sent the parents a voice note accusing parents of “dumping their children at the school gates”.
The palie said: “I have noticed that parents just dump their children at our school and do not fetch them on time in the afternoon.
“I shall not tolerate this anymore, I shall tolerate 15 minutes over the time and thereafter we shall charge a fine of R30 per day. This is not fair on our paying parents for the aftercare.”
“We cannot expect the teachers to become the babysitters of your child for free because they have to attend the meetings after school.”
Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond says anything outside the stipulated times is considered “aftercare”.
She says: “The school gates open at 7.30am and school starts at 8am. Therefore there is a half-hour window where the schools are responsible for the learners, and parents have 15 minutes in the afternoon to collect learners.”
“Anything beyond this is considered aftercare. It is not the responsibility of educators to look after children beyond these times unless it is an official after-school activity.
“In addition, some teachers also have children who attend schools which they may need to drop off in the morning as well. Hence why this aftercare service is in place for parents who are unable to meet the official school hours, as is the case in many schools.”
She says should a parent make use of this service at this school, even if on an ad hoc basis, the parent is charged a fee.
Hammond adds: “That is payment for the service provided by the aftercare staff as it is beyond official school hours.”
marsha.dean@inl.co.za