The issue of parents being
summoned and getting default judgments against them for not paying school fees
is the issue here.
I am going to guide parents on
how to handle the situation. If you follow my lead, there is no way a school
will succeed in getting a judgment against you unless you legally do not qualify,
and you do not pay school fees.
Background:
1.
FOR THE GOOD OF
THE CAUSE MAKE COPIES OF EVERY COMMUNICATION WITH THE SCHOOL AND LET SOMEONE
SIGN FOR RECEIVING ANY DOCUMENTATION FROM YOU. The best method would
be to send emails to the school and request delivery and read receipts.
2. Record all communications
with the school no matter with whom you speak regarding the issue of school
fees. This can be used in any legal
fight you might end up in. And the law says that you do not have to inform
anyone that you are recording them if you are part of the conversation. All cell
phones have a recorder as an app available. If you speak to them telephonically
record the conversation on another phone. You can file these recordings
electronically.
3.
If you cannot afford to pay school fees to
public schools the law provides you with a means to get an exemption if you
qualify.
4.
The school administration (and by implication, this is the responsibility of the principal) must supply you with the necessary
forms to apply for an exemption. There is
no prescribed pre- approval system.
5.
Qualifications
are prescribed in the South African Schools
act 84 of 1996 that came effect on the 1st of January 1997, and Circular
86/2007 Date: 04 December 2007
6. The basic requirement is that the school MUST supply you with the
prescribed forms as per the act whenever you request this.
7. THE ONLY QUALIFICATION IS YOUR GROSS INCOME and nothing else.
8. You must be able to PROVE your gross income beyond any doubt.
9. If you are employed you will be able to supply payslips.
10. If for any reason the school requires bank statements, and you have
nothing to hide give it to them. Be nice.
11. If the school requires of you to submit an affidavit of any sort and you have
nothing to hide supply them with it.
12. If the school requires of you to supply stamped documents from banks
that you do not do business with, politely refuse. This is an illegal requirement, and it cannot
influence the approval of your request. (See points 1 and 2 above)
13. The school CANNOT request details of assets and liabilities or income
and expenditure details. These are illegal
requirements, and you can politely deny their requests. (See
points 1 & 2 above)
14. IN ALL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECT YOUR CONTACT TO THE PRINCIPAL.
15. KEEP CLINICAL RECORD OF ALL YOU DO and all reactions you receive from
the school AS IF YOU EXPECT THE WORST.
16. If your request is denied ask for specific reasons in writing. The ONLY
REASON can be that you do not qualify in terms of the Act quoted above or that
the school might suspect that you are lying about something. They have to give
this to you in writing ( see points 1 & 2 above)
17. If it is approved – good luck!
But if you can afford to pay for something please do so.
Now
let us get to the worst-case scenario.
Summons
and Judgments
The law requires the school principal in person to address the problem of non-paying parents
by contacting them personally about this. If this happens keep a record of the
interaction (Points 1 & 2 above)
If you do not
apply for an exemption or you do not qualify for an exemption you are legally in
default and the school can issue a summons against you, get a judgment against
you, and follow every step that the law allows them to get the money from you.
This can include a garnishee order against your salary or attachment and
selling off your assets.
Now it seems that some
schools deny an exemption for illegal reasons and then go ahead and summon parents. If you are one of those and you have your
written or recorded records you have a 100% chance of winning any action
against you. BUT YOU MUST DEFEND THE ACTION. ( this is easy to do yourself –
there are documents in the summons that you can fill in and send back to the
attorney- see points 1 &2 Above) Once
a default judgment has been taken against you it is practically impossible to
rescind it without using a lawyer which is probably going to cost you more than
the original school fees.
Although it is
your good right to refuse to give a school details of your expenses a court
might frown about you paying nearly R900 for DSTV while claiming you cannot afford
to pay school fees. I don’t say it will get to that, but I just want to make a
point here.
Here is a blog post I wrote a while back that gives insight into what the LAW SAYS ABOUT EXEMPTION
:
https://activeconsumers.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-2018-government-schools-and.html
