Eastern Cape High Court ruled this week against the provincial education withholding Norms and Standard funds meant to support underprivileged schools.
School governing bodies and a teachers’ union have welcomed the high court ruling that set precedent stopping provincial education departments across the country from withholding Norms and Standards funds allocated to underprivileged schools for the benefit of learners.
The National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) and South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) described the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda ruling against the provincial education department as a lesson for all other provincial departments.
The court on Wednesday ruled in favour of an application filed by the Makhanda Circle of Unity and three schools.
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC), which represented the applicants, said the Eastern Cape Department of Education illegally took the decision in 2020 to reduce the annual budget allocated to each school leading to each learner being systemically underfunded compared to their counterparts in other provinces.
