By Kefiloe Kajane
The ministry of social development has this week apologised to schools for its delay to pay school fees for its sponsored learners.
The ministry’s statement said among the reasons the delay was caused by its delay to close its doors for receiving applications for sponsorship to qualifying learners and students.
The ministry sponsors vulnerable learners who are unable to pay tuition due to various reasons especially the orphans.
It said it did not wish to leave out some deserving learners who also needed help for payment of the dues at schools.
The statement further explained that in addition a change in schools’ calendar due to Covid-19 pandemic also contributed to the delay.
“The Junior Certificate results that were just recently released, also contributed to the delay of school fees payment because the ministry was expecting reapplications for sponsorship so that all payments can be made. The ministry also was making follow ups on schools on students it is sponsoring to make sure they returned to school after Covid-19 pandemic. All this affected the ministry’s process to pay for school feels in time.
“Expectation is that all payments will be made before end of this month. The ministry would like to apologise to the schools’ management for any inconvenience cost by this delay,” the statement read.
