Local News
FS Department of Education says no schools will close in the province─── 13:18 Sat, 22 Apr 2017
The Free State MEC for Education says no schools in the Free State will close due to a lack of funds.
Tate Makgoe told OFM News that the money provided by National Treasury and paid out to schools will be available by the end of next week.
The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS) earlier said a number of schools in the Free State face closure due to the alleged negligence in making these annual payments to schools.
CEO Jaco Deacon added that in the Free State these payments are made quarterly, however, the last payment was made in the third quarter of last year. Makgoe says the money does take time to be paid out.
Schools use the money to pay running costs such as electricity, water, and stationary.
“There is no way that we can close schools. It is a process to close a school, you have to go through the Government Gazette etc. What the challenge is, it is the month of April and this is the beginning of the financial year. In terms of budgets and all these processes it does take some time for us to get the money from Treasury,” says Makgoe.
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