Under these targets, schools in quintile 1 through 3 (Q1-3) will receive a subsidy of R1,835 per learner in 2026; quintile 4 (Q4) schools will receive R919 per learner; and quintile 5 (Q5) schools will get only R315.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FEDSAS noted that the Gauteng department has, for years, given the same subsidy to Q4 and Q5 schools, creating an expectation that this would continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More importantly, without any communication to the contrary, these schools have budgeted on these expected amounts being due for 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The GDE has now apparently pulled the rug from under these schools by giving notice of the cut just months away from the new school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Q5 schools operate in wealthier communities and serve the wealthiest feeder families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this does not necessarily mean these communities and families are ‘rich’, but rather the ‘least poor’ among those who attend government schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to FEDSAS, many of these schools cannot absorb the sudden change in policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a letter sent to the GDE, seen by BusinessTech, the federation took umbrage with the timing of the notices, claiming that they were not sent within established timeframes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the GDE is within its rights to apply subsidies in line with national targets, the National Norms and Standards for School Funding require that relevant information be given to schools by 30 September, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FEDSAS claims that communication was only sent to affected schools between 7 and 10 October\u2014a week after the deadline\u2014with notices back-dated to 30 September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said it would thus be unlawful for the department to make the subsidy changes for 2026, given that it did not meet the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FEDSAS said that, should the department proceed to cut the subsidies, it would seek “appropriate relief” by getting the national department and minister involved and taking things further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Communication seen by BusinessTech confirmed the department’s intention to cut the subsidy for Q5 schools from 1 January 2026. The notices were dated 30 September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BusinessTech contacted the department and two other spokespeople to confirm the changes and clarify the timelines of when these notices were sent, but did not receive a response by the time of publication<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why the changes matter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/School-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf the Gauteng Department of Education proceeds with cutting subsidies to Q5 schools, the impact on affected schools, communities and families will be significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to DBE data for 2024, there are approximately 2.7 million learners in Gauteng, split among 3,100 public and independent schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vast majority of learners\u2014about 2.3 million\u2014are in public schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The public schools are split further into quintiles based on the incomes of the community, with quintile 5 serving the ‘richest’ communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around 650 schools are listed as Q5 in the DBE’s database, covering just under 740,000 learners. FEDSAS said this is as high as 750 schools in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Extrapolating the subsidy onto the 2024 data, the Gauteng education department would spend over R680 million on subsidies for these learners in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it cuts the subsidy to the national rate, it would only be R380 million. The R400 million would either have to be budgeted out by the schools or, more likely, covered by parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Freedom Front Plus condemned the move, saying it would undermine the sustainability of quality education in South Africa and put the affected schools under severe financial strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It noted that Afrikaans schools would be particularly hard hit. An analysis of the DBE’s data shows that approximately 250 Afrikaans schools are listed as Q5, covering just under 280,000 learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, extrapolating the data, this would cut the subsidies to Afrikaans schools from about R260 million to R90 million\u2014a R170 million reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party said this was a significant burden for these schools to bear, especially without prior consultation or “clear justification”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In addition to the subsidy reduction, schools also face possibly losing departmental teaching posts while still having to budget for essential expenses and staff,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We deem this unjust and unacceptable, particularly because most schools have already finalised their 2026 budgets and communicated school fee requirements to parents.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that plans for the 2026 year are already in place, and that resource allocation could not be arbitrarily amended two months before the end of a school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is a recipe for chaos, and a slap in the face of responsible financial management,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party said it would immediately engage with the department to seek clarity on the motivation for the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lobby group AfriForum has also asked its legal team to investigate the cuts to determine whether any legal action can overturn decisions in this regard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Gauteng Department of Education wants to cut subsidies for ‘rich’ schools in the province by 65%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":840190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17639,5853,23835],"class_list":["post-840183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-fedsas","tag-freedom-front-plus","tag-gauteng-department-of-educaiton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840183"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840262,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840183\/revisions\/840262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf the Gauteng Department of Education proceeds with cutting subsidies to Q5 schools, the impact on affected schools, communities and families will be significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to DBE data for 2024, there are approximately 2.7 million learners in Gauteng, split among 3,100 public and independent schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vast majority of learners\u2014about 2.3 million\u2014are in public schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The public schools are split further into quintiles based on the incomes of the community, with quintile 5 serving the ‘richest’ communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around 650 schools are listed as Q5 in the DBE’s database, covering just under 740,000 learners. FEDSAS said this is as high as 750 schools in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Extrapolating the subsidy onto the 2024 data, the Gauteng education department would spend over R680 million on subsidies for these learners in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it cuts the subsidy to the national rate, it would only be R380 million. The R400 million would either have to be budgeted out by the schools or, more likely, covered by parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Freedom Front Plus condemned the move, saying it would undermine the sustainability of quality education in South Africa and put the affected schools under severe financial strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It noted that Afrikaans schools would be particularly hard hit. An analysis of the DBE’s data shows that approximately 250 Afrikaans schools are listed as Q5, covering just under 280,000 learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, extrapolating the data, this would cut the subsidies to Afrikaans schools from about R260 million to R90 million\u2014a R170 million reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party said this was a significant burden for these schools to bear, especially without prior consultation or “clear justification”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In addition to the subsidy reduction, schools also face possibly losing departmental teaching posts while still having to budget for essential expenses and staff,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We deem this unjust and unacceptable, particularly because most schools have already finalised their 2026 budgets and communicated school fee requirements to parents.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that plans for the 2026 year are already in place, and that resource allocation could not be arbitrarily amended two months before the end of a school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is a recipe for chaos, and a slap in the face of responsible financial management,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party said it would immediately engage with the department to seek clarity on the motivation for the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lobby group AfriForum has also asked its legal team to investigate the cuts to determine whether any legal action can overturn decisions in this regard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Gauteng Department of Education wants to cut subsidies for ‘rich’ schools in the province by 65%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":840190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17639,5853,23835],"class_list":["post-840183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-fedsas","tag-freedom-front-plus","tag-gauteng-department-of-educaiton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840183"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840262,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840183\/revisions\/840262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}