The new democratic government in South Africa introduced an education system that
focused on quality and equality for all. The introduction of the new education system
intended to remove inequality in the schooling system. The new education system was
been accomplished through phasing out school fees and introducing a no-fee school
policy. The aim of the no-fee school policy was to redress the imbalances of the past
and to attract the poor and orphans to access education without paying mandatory fees
(Wilderman, 2009:32).
The no-fee policy came with interesting ideas for relieving pressure on both parents and
learners. It attracted many learners who had dropped out of school in many years. This
led to a dramatic increase of enrolment in no-fee schools. However, Borkum (2009:1)
sees the disadvantages of the increased enrolment as overcrowding that reduces the
quality of education, increases lawlessness in schools, and insufficient resources such
as textbooks. The major challenges faced by these schools is the delay in releasing
provincial funds, inadequate state funding, and loss of income from school funding.
These make no-fee schools vulnerable, affecting quality of education and influences on
the enrolment pattern of learners (Nsapato, 2007:2).
Against this background, the study aimed to investigate factors influencing poor
enrolment in a no-fee school in the foundation phase and to suggest strategies that
could be used to overcome these challenges.
The study adopted a qualitative research method and its design was a case study. Four
educators were purposeful selected on the basis of three years teaching experience in a
no-fee school in the foundation phase. Data collection strategies were semi-structured
interviews and document analysis. Data analysis was done according to a systematic
process of coding and categorising. Gathered data was categorised into constituent
parts for coding purposes.
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Ethical issues considered were the following: permission to conduct the study, informed
consent, confidentiality, and anonymity. Participants’ confidentiality and anonymity were
maintained by using pseudonyms in the report. The voluntary nature of participation and
the absence of punishment for withdrawal from the study were emphasised prior to
commencement of the semi-structured interviews. The issue of trustworthiness in this
study was considered through the following: credibility, transferability, dependability and
confirmability.
The data analysis from semi-structured interview revealed the following: the no-fee
school policy has a negative impact on parents because parents were no longer
involved themselves in the education of their children. The overburdened infrastructure
has a negative effect on quality of education and the enrolment status, deterioration of
quality of education in no-fee schools force parents to withdraw their children and
register them to better schools, cooperation amongst stakeholders is necessary for the
improvement of quality of education, teachers’ remuneration should also be improved
and the maintenance of professionalism through discipline.
Findings from document analysis revealed that poor enrolment in no fee school was
caused by high rate of absenteeism in all registers. This compelled educators to
withdrew learners’ from class registers hence poor enrolment figures in no fee schools.
Staff meeting minutes revealed that enrolment of learners in no-fee schools could be
improved through improvement of teaching and learning and the provision of adequate
infrastructure and the reinforcement of the no-fee school policy packages such as the
National School Nutrition Program in order to attract more vulnerable learners to these
schools.
Based on the findings, the following strategies are recommended for improving poor
enrolment in no-fee schools: strengthening collaboration amongst the stakeholders in
education; maintenance of discipline; enforcement of professionalism among teachers;
continuous training of all stakeholders; and punctual disbursement of funds to no-fee
schools.