Ten months into an academic year which started with the non-payment of norms and standards funding owed to schools by the Northern Cape Department of Education, the Garies High School community has once again been left without funds needed to provide essential education services.
The school has 214 learners, including 35 learners who are currently writing the critical National Senior Certificate examinations. But because the school last received money from the Northern Cape provincial government in July, there is no money to buy food for hostel learners or to buy prepaid electricity for the school premises. As councillor, I raised the school’s plight with the mayor to plead for municipal understanding and to make an interim arrangement that will protect learners’ right to education.
Throughout the year, the Democratic Alliance (DA) demanded answers and accountability from the Northern Cape provincial government on the financial chaos caused by the non-payment of funds owed to schools. In its most recent October briefing, the Northern Cape Department of Education admitted that it has a shortfall of more than R251.6 million on funds owed to public schools alone. Monies paid to Garies High School in July was not the money originally budgeted for 2025, but rather monies owed by the department from 2024. It creates an unsustainable, unaffordable cycle of debt and dependency for schools like Garies High School. Although the school is regarded as a quintile 5 school, it is based in a very poor community and the majority of its learners are not from wealthy families. It makes fundraising efforts on behalf of the school very difficult.
It is time for the provincial government to ask itself if it truly has the capacity to deliver quality education services to all children in the Northern Cape.