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Education bankruptcy

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Image: via Shutterstock

While some kids may be reluctant to go back to school and leave their holidays behind them, some parents are dreading the financial stress as school fees (and other costs) resume. South Africa’s education system doesn’t always leave room for parents who can’t afford the associated expenses.

Child-free people will shake their heads in disbelief at this. After all, it seems obvious- don’t have kids if you can’t afford them. But even if parents are financially responsible and don’t fritter their money away on frivolities like food or furniture it can be incredibly hard to stay on top of the budget.

Budget. Right. For many of us that word, along with “savings”, disappeared about four minutes into the first pregnancy. We’ve seen all the ads attempting to get us to invest wisely in order to prepare for our children’s academic future and felt twinges of guilt as we watch our money evaporating into nappies, clothes, and medical bills. There just isn’t anything left to save or invest.

A few little extras…

School fees are a static amount (which increases annually) but there are so many sundry costs related to school life. Apart from uniforms, sports gear, text books and stationery, these other money-vacuums make any cash left vanish quickly: musical instrument hire, extra-mural costs, civvies days, raffle forms, cake sales, school camps, birthday presents for friend’s parties, dances, entrepreneur’s days and on and on…

We knew it would be expensive, but it’s difficult to grasp just how complex the financial weight is of having school-going kids until your bank manager starts giving you those calls.

There are parents who work and still can’t keep their heads above water and then parents who may be out of, or unable to, work. Sure, some parents can breeze through the expense and happily shell out private school fees, but the majority of us wince at the costs.

We want great education for our children, so we try and choose the best schools within our means. Even the most conservative actuary would find it hard to pin down just how difficult it is to quantify the peripheral costs related to schooling. Parents may also be under pressure as they move into pricier neighbourhoods in order to access the local schools.

Even if your child’s schooling is subsidised by the department, it will never be entirely free from costs.

Given the extensive problems within the education system (take the 2013 Matric results and the on-going textbook crises, for example) it is unlikely that the State will ever be able to provide free education to all children. Although this is done in many countries, SA lacks the resources to do this.

Education is a right, but it can be an incredibly expensive right to access.

Is schooling too expensive for most South Africans?
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