According to an April 2018 report by the Sunday Times, South Africa’s top private schools have lost thousands of students over the last year due to rising school fees and other costs.
Two of South Africa’s biggest private school chains, Curro and AdvTech, lost 3,881 pupils last year – mainly because parents could not afford to pay fees.
In addition, St John’s College in Parktown and St Stithians College in Sandton have confirmed that they had seen a number of drop-outs as well as an increase in students who had fallen behind in school fees.
Worse still, Old Mutual found that the cost of education is expected to increase by about 9% per year.
This means that within five years, you could be facing school fees of around R130,000 per annum for a private school, and over R50,000 for a public school.
Similar increases can be expected across the education sector Old Mutual said, with the expected cost of one year of university rising from R58,860 in 2018 to R254,725 by 2035.
Private options
While many parents can simply no longer afford to send their children to private schools, there are still a number of schools that are actually cheaper than many public offerings – especially at the primary school level.
Factoring in Old Mutual’s expected cost of R34,613 for a year of schooling at a public primary or high school, BusinessTech looked at the biggest players in the market, and how their fees compare.
SPARK (https://www.sparkschools.co.za)
SPARK’s primary schools offer facilities for students from Grade R – Grade 7.
Each curriculum used encompasses the requirements of the CAPS curriculum, however there special focus is given to dynamic and individualised teaching, which ensures that scholars are learning the curriculum in new ways that are interesting for them.
According to the school’s website, two payment options are available for the 2019 school year – an annual tuition cost of R23,100 per year, or a monthly tuition cost of R2,310 over 10 months.
In addition, the school will provide all necessary stationery for students upon receipt of an annual stationery fee and parents are not responsible for purchasing textbooks or replenishing school stationery (a R500 once off cost).
Pembury Lifestyle Group (https://www.plgschools.co.za)
Pembury’s Lifestyle Group and its school’s have grown aggressively since its official listing on the AltX board in March 2017.
It currently boasts more than ten schools across Gauteng, the North West and Limpopo, with facilities for students from Grade R through to matric.
Each school offers vastly different fees, with the PLG Willow View Academy charging R26,400 to R36,300 between Grade R and Grade 7. While you can expect to pay between R46,200 and R51,700 between Grade 8 and matric.
In contrast you can expect to pay significantly more at PLG’s Northriding Academy which charges R32,450 to R42,350 Grade R and Grade 7, and R52,800 between Grades 8-10.
Curro (https://www.curro.co.za)
Arguably no other South African private school group has seen as much growth as Curro over the last few years.
The group develops, acquires and manages independent schools for learners from the age of three months to Grade 12.
The different school models are Curro Castles (nursery schools), Curro, Curro Academy, Meridian and Select schools – with construction on five new campuses across the country planned for 2018 and beyond.
Despite this, the school was named directly by the Sunday Times due to the number of drop-outs it has seen due to rising schools fees.
As with the other options on this list, the fees differ depending on the school – however they are no longer directly accessible on the Curro website and you are required to contact the school directly for more information.
However a recent Business Insider report notes that the average school fee per pupil was R41,600 in 2017 – with increases of up to 12.2% in 2018.
Advtech (https://www.advtech.co.za)
AdvTech was also named by the Sunday Times as one of the groups which saw some of the biggest drop-outs due to rising school fees.
Owner of the Crawford college and Trinity House schools, the group offers options for Grade through to matric, at a number of schools across the country.
While each school offers its own pricing structures, many were notably more expensive than other options on this list, with pricing starting at R54,670 for Grade R at Crawford Pretoria, rising to R118,280 in matric.
Similarly you can expect to pay R68,030 to R132,830 between Grade R and matric at Crawford’s Sandton College.
Trinityhouse’s fees are slightly less expensive, charging between R56,900 and R99,300 for Grade R through to Grade 12.
New SA Schooling Option Piloted
The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has commended the Department of Basic Education (DBE) for implementing the three-stream model in the South African curriculum. The model, which was piloted across 58 schools in 2017, features three streams of education – academic, technical vocational and technical occupational.
As explained by the Helen Suzman Foundation’s Charles Simkins, up to now, basic education has only featured two streams – the academic/technical pathways.
However, both streams are built on a common school programme of general education up to the end of Grade 9, after which learners can either stay in schools or transfer to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.
The third stream being introduced by the department is a technical occupational stream which will instead offer skills and vocational programmes and is aimed at producing students who can leave matric and immediately enter the workplace – with skills like spray painting, woodwork, and hairdressing.
This includes the introduction of subjects such as technical mathematics, technical science and entrepreneurship with the goal of producing 30,0000 artisans by 2030.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: BusinessTech [1], [2]. Image sources: kazuend via Unsplash [1], [2].
GDPR: How Europe’s New Internet Rules Affect You
On May 25, Europe’s new set of Internet privacy rules, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), will go into effect – reshaping the way our online world works.
From that date, if your personal data is being used by any company in the European Union, then you have rights that didn’t exist before. This has a global impact because so many internet companies have employees or users somewhere in Europe.
GDPR does have good intentions, however, some of the law itself really breaks the internet.
Jason Bier, Engine Media Group
Data is a billion-dollar industry and the new law applies to all global Internet companies processing user data in the EU. They include everything from credit card details to photos and even biometric data.
This is in response to protect internet users in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving their illegal harvesting of data to craft ads supporting Donald Trump’s election campaign and the Brexit campaign.
Under the new rules, companies must clearly ask for consumer’s consent to harvest data, so they have to actively “opt-in” and be informed how their data is being used and for what purpose.
Those in breach of GDPR can be fined up to four percent of annual global turnover. And users who no longer want their personal data processed have the right to be forgotten and have their data deleted.
Potential pros and cons of GDPR
Jason Bier of Engine Media Group believes that “GDPR does have good intentions, however, some of the law itself really breaks the internet.”
“There’s a lot of confusion in how … personal data will be interpreted by the data protection authorities in each member state,” says Bier.
“There has been the addition of an IP address, which is considered personal data, that if it’s processed before consent is given by the user that would be a violation of the GDPR. And as we all know the IP address is an essential building block of the Internet. Every communication that’s sent between a device and the webpage exchanges that simple data.”
“So it’s really a question of, what is consumer data, what is personal data? And that definition has been broadened dramatically.”
Bier thinks Google and Facebook will be empowered by GDPR, because “they’re very familiar to people, their services are widely used … so they’re going to get opt-in consent. That’s really the issue here. Small businesses can’t get opt-in consent because they don’t collect personally identifiable information like Google and Facebook do … They’re going to collect more, not less, data on individuals and associate that to personally identifiable information.”
Diego Naranjo, a senior policy adviser at European Digital Rights, doesn’t agree with Bier that the new privacy rules will benefit big companies like Google or Facebook.
“The new regulation brings a lot of strength and mechanisms, it brings potential big sanctions, so I don’t think they will be able to directly benefit from it. If they follow the rules, they will be able to do their business as anybody else. Of course, they’re big, so they’ll be able to adapt quickly but I’m not sure this will reinforce these two companies – but rather the opposite,” says Naranjo.
He admits that not enough has really been done to educate and inform people about GDPR and its implications.
“We’ve been telling the European Commission that such a change needs a proper campaign to tell people how their rights are going to be reinforced. We’ve seen a lot of misinformation by private companies who see their business model potentially affected by this regulation,” says Naranjo.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Source: Al Jazeera [1]. Image source: [1].
SA Public vs Private School Prices in 2018 and Beyond
According to an April 2018 report by the Sunday Times, South Africa’s top private schools have lost thousands of students over the last year due to rising school fees and other costs.
Two of South Africa’s biggest private school chains, Curro and AdvTech, lost 3,881 pupils last year – mainly because parents could not afford to pay fees.
In addition, St John’s College in Parktown and St Stithians College in Sandton have confirmed that they had seen a number of drop-outs as well as an increase in students who had fallen behind in school fees.
Worse still, Old Mutual found that the cost of education is expected to increase by about 9% per year.
This means that within five years, you could be facing school fees of around R130,000 per annum for a private school, and over R50,000 for a public school.
Similar increases can be expected across the education sector Old Mutual said, with the expected cost of one year of university rising from R58,860 in 2018 to R254,725 by 2035.
Private options
While many parents can simply no longer afford to send their children to private schools, there are still a number of schools that are actually cheaper than many public offerings – especially at the primary school level.
Factoring in Old Mutual’s expected cost of R34,613 for a year of schooling at a public primary or high school, BusinessTech looked at the biggest players in the market, and how their fees compare.
SPARK (https://www.sparkschools.co.za)
SPARK’s primary schools offer facilities for students from Grade R – Grade 7.
Each curriculum used encompasses the requirements of the CAPS curriculum, however there special focus is given to dynamic and individualised teaching, which ensures that scholars are learning the curriculum in new ways that are interesting for them.
According to the school’s website, two payment options are available for the 2019 school year – an annual tuition cost of R23,100 per year, or a monthly tuition cost of R2,310 over 10 months.
In addition, the school will provide all necessary stationery for students upon receipt of an annual stationery fee and parents are not responsible for purchasing textbooks or replenishing school stationery (a R500 once off cost).
Pembury Lifestyle Group (https://www.plgschools.co.za)
Pembury’s Lifestyle Group and its school’s have grown aggressively since its official listing on the AltX board in March 2017.
It currently boasts more than ten schools across Gauteng, the North West and Limpopo, with facilities for students from Grade R through to matric.
Each school offers vastly different fees, with the PLG Willow View Academy charging R26,400 to R36,300 between Grade R and Grade 7. While you can expect to pay between R46,200 and R51,700 between Grade 8 and matric.
In contrast you can expect to pay significantly more at PLG’s Northriding Academy which charges R32,450 to R42,350 Grade R and Grade 7, and R52,800 between Grades 8-10.
Curro (https://www.curro.co.za)
Arguably no other South African private school group has seen as much growth as Curro over the last few years.
The group develops, acquires and manages independent schools for learners from the age of three months to Grade 12.
The different school models are Curro Castles (nursery schools), Curro, Curro Academy, Meridian and Select schools – with construction on five new campuses across the country planned for 2018 and beyond.
Despite this, the school was named directly by the Sunday Times due to the number of drop-outs it has seen due to rising schools fees.
As with the other options on this list, the fees differ depending on the school – however they are no longer directly accessible on the Curro website and you are required to contact the school directly for more information.
However a recent Business Insider report notes that the average school fee per pupil was R41,600 in 2017 – with increases of up to 12.2% in 2018.
Advtech (https://www.advtech.co.za)
AdvTech was also named by the Sunday Times as one of the groups which saw some of the biggest drop-outs due to rising school fees.
Owner of the Crawford college and Trinity House schools, the group offers options for Grade through to matric, at a number of schools across the country.
While each school offers its own pricing structures, many were notably more expensive than other options on this list, with pricing starting at R54,670 for Grade R at Crawford Pretoria, rising to R118,280 in matric.
Similarly you can expect to pay R68,030 to R132,830 between Grade R and matric at Crawford’s Sandton College.
Trinityhouse’s fees are slightly less expensive, charging between R56,900 and R99,300 for Grade R through to Grade 12.
New SA Schooling Option Piloted
The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has commended the Department of Basic Education (DBE) for implementing the three-stream model in the South African curriculum. The model, which was piloted across 58 schools in 2017, features three streams of education – academic, technical vocational and technical occupational.
As explained by the Helen Suzman Foundation’s Charles Simkins, up to now, basic education has only featured two streams – the academic/technical pathways.
However, both streams are built on a common school programme of general education up to the end of Grade 9, after which learners can either stay in schools or transfer to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.
The third stream being introduced by the department is a technical occupational stream which will instead offer skills and vocational programmes and is aimed at producing students who can leave matric and immediately enter the workplace – with skills like spray painting, woodwork, and hairdressing.
This includes the introduction of subjects such as technical mathematics, technical science and entrepreneurship with the goal of producing 30,0000 artisans by 2030.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: BusinessTech [1], [2]. Image sources: kazuend via Unsplash [1], [2].
Survival Tips for the 5 Most Expensive Cities for South African Business Travelers
Taking the average cost for four-star hotel accommodation, meals, drinks, laundry, transport, other essentials as well as general demand, Corporate Traveller has named the five most expensive cities for South African business travelers.
Says Oz Desai, Corporate Traveller South Africa GM: “When we travel for business, our choice of destination has little to do with how expensive it is to visit that city. Rather, we travel to cities where we have business interests even if it costs a great deal to fly there, stay in a hotel and buy a meal.
“The bulk of the daily spend will usually be the cost of a hotel room, but other business expenses like taxis, food and drink and even the cost of Wi-Fi quickly add up when you’re travelling for business.”
Here’s a list of handy rand-savers in five popular South African business haunts.
1. New York
Number one at R10,375 a day.
Accommodation prices in New York are subject to extreme fluctuations depending on the season and whether there’s a large-scale event in town. Plan your business travel so that it takes place at off-peak times. Rule of thumb is that from mid-January to mid-March is a good time to visit New York for business even though it’s winter. Also look for hotels uptown or downtown instead of staying midtown. Public transport is excellent in New York so provided you’ve clustered your meetings smartly you will have no issue getting down to business speedily.
2. Hong Kong
Number one in Asia at R6,065 a day.
Hong Kong is the most expensive location for business travelers, overtaking Tokyo which drops to second in the rankings. If you want to eat cheap in Hong Kong, consider taking a foodie tour after hours where you’ll be introduced to some of the lively local hot spots and indulge in dim sum, noodle soups and barbecued meat. If you don’t have time to go on a foodie tour, take a trip to Hong Kong Island and find Dim Sum Square, or be adventurous and visit one of the night markets which always serves up an array of delectable street food.
3 and 4. Switzerland – Zurich and Geneva
Number one and two in Europe at R9,408 and R8,728 respectively.
An easy way to save money in Geneva is to grab a free transport pass when you arrive at the airport. The pass is good for 80 minutes and covers trains, buses and trams for Zone 10, which is pretty much anywhere in Geneva you’d want to go. Throughout Geneva, there’s free Wi-Fi. Simply look out for a network called “((o)) Ville de Geneve.” Unfortunately, affordable eateries are difficult to find in Geneva but don’t despair. Just hop on the 12 tram to the end of the line and walk across the border to the French town of Gaillard for some great restaurants.
For Zurich, it’s a good idea to purchase a city card, which will offer free public transportation as well as discounts or free admission to local attractions. If you like to eat out, it might be worth considering the Easy Dining app. It costs 95 francs (R1,210) per year but the app claims to cut your bill by half with its discounts at restaurants across the canton.
5. Luanda
Number one in Africa.
As Angola’s largest city, Luanda takes the No. 4 spot on the global list – in part because of security factors. Travelling executives end up staying in pricey tourist areas, rather than more competitively-priced business areas.
Although it’s tempting to explore the upper-end restaurants on Ilha do Cabo, if budget is a concern, rather head to Luanda’s central neighborhoods with their backyard restaurants (quintais) where you’ll be able to eat fantastic local specialties at a fraction of the price.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: Bizcommunity [1]. Image sources: Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash [1].
Private Schools in Rwanda Close Down as Public Schools Become More Attractive to Parents
Private schools in Rwanda are on the verge of closing down due to low patronage. A report by Daily Nation says desperate proprietors who face closure of their institutions are now asking the government to sponsor students in private schools at public rates.
But the government has rejected the idea.
The “problem” started with the government’s twelve-year basic education policy which made public schools affordable and preferable.
According to the report, the Ministry of Education invested hugely in expanding capacity and teaching infrastructure at public schools across the country; introduced the school feeding programme and abolished school fees.
More than 30 private schools are said to have closed indefinitely this year, while others are struggling to stay afloat after losing students to public schools.
School owners told Rwanda Today that even those that had managed to stay open were struggling to meet their operational costs.
“We’ve suffered a sharp decline in the number of students enroled, yet the school has accumulated debt, unpaid salaries and owes arrears to suppliers. It is not clear if the school will re-open,” said Samuel Batamba, the head teacher at College Nkunduburezi in Gakenke District.
Mr Batamba said the school used to have 900 students but now has only 80 students after it failed to attract new students while others enrolled in public schools.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, the government owns 460 out of the more than 1,575 schools in the country.
The rest are run by religious bodies with the Catholic church owning 620 schools, the Anglican church 279, Adventist church 22 and Muslim schools are at 16. Another 178 schools are run by parents’ associations and individuals.
The most affected institutions are private boarding schools.
Figures show that students in private schools decreased from 101,510 in 2012 to 79,076 last year while enrolment in public and government-aided schools almost doubled in the same period.
According to John Gasana, the Vice chairman of the Private Schools Association, competing with public schools requires huge capital investment to improve infrastructure, equipment and hiring skilled teachers, something many private schools cannot afford.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: Newspeak [1]. Image sources: [1].