At each school, the School Governing Body decides what the fees will be. The majority of parents of children at the school must approve the fees at a general meeting of the parent body.

Once the fees have been agreed on, all parents are legally required to pay them. If you cannot afford the fees, or cannot pay the full amount, you must apply at the school for an exemption.

Public schools are not allowed to refuse admission, suspend pupils from classes, deny them access to cultural, sporting or social activities, or refuse to issue school reports if parents are unable to or fail to pay school fees. (They are, however, allowed to request parents to come to school and collect the reports in person.)

• If you are the parents of a child at school and your combined annual income is more than 30 times the school's annual fee, you do not qualify for any exemption and you must pay the full fee.
• If your combined annual income amounts to less than 10 times the annual school fee, you can apply for full exemption.
• If your combined annual income is between 10 and 30 times the annual school fees, you can apply for a partial exemption.

To get a full or partial exemption, you must apply to the School Governing Body (SGB). It is your responsibility as the parents to apply for this exemption. Unless and until you have been granted exemption, you can be legally forced to pay the fees.

Once you have applied, the SGB will decide whether to grant your application or not. It will use its fee policy to decide how much to reduce the fees.

If your application is turned down, you can apply to the Head of the WCED for exemption.

If you cannot pay the annual school fees and you receive exemption, the school is legally obliged to help you. The WCED has provided schools with guidelines on how to assist parents who are unable to pay school fees.