PARENTS from Mandela Park in Khayelitsha are unhappy with the principal and the school governing body (SGB) of Nomsa Mapongwana Primary School.
The parents claimed that the school wants them to pay R500 for stationery and “contributions” to school projects.
It's alleged that in the previous years, pupils used to get stationery from the school, but now parents are allegedly asked to pay some money.
On Sunday, 21 January, the school's principal held a meeting with parents where others disagreed with the demands for money made by the school management.
The principal allegedly said the money would be used to a security guard, buy books for the school library and even buy more food for the school’s feeding scheme.
Parents believe that buying books, employing a guard and even repairing school computers are catered for by the government.
ALSO WATCH: Ngizwe Mchunu 'attacked'
“This is the role of government. When the government builds a library, they also buy books for the same library. Why are we asked to pay money for books? Same with the security, it’s the government that provides security for the school, not us parents. Somewhere somehow someone wants to eat our money,” said one of the parents.
Another parent, who has two children at school, said it was the first time they were asked to pay for stationery.
“I've two kids at the school and two others have already left. This is my first time to hearing that parents must pay money for stationery. Our kids used to get all the stationery from school. To make matters worse, we were only informed after schools reopened that we should pay for stationery. We didn’t budget for that. Why didn’t they tell us last year when schools closed?” she said.
The spokesman for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokeswoman. Unathi Booi, confirmed the incident.
“The WCED is investigating the claims regarding the stationery. We are aware that parents have been requested to voluntarily contribute R250 towards the hiring of a school guard, which is paid by the SGB. This is not a new initiative. Parents have been assisting the school in this regard in the past,” said Booi.
