Parents ordered to pay private school fees
Parents of a private school pupil will have to cough up more than R400 000 after running up the debt over a number of years, having dishonoured their agreement to pay the school fees.
A Cape Times report says Western Cape High Court Judge Derek Wille further interdicted the parents from enrolling their daughter at St Cyprian’s Diocesan School for Girls due to the accumulated debt.
According to court documents, the parents have been in arrears for four years and owe R407 902.
Despite the school’s attempts to restructure the payment of the outstanding fees, the parents were unable to pay the fees.
An offer of alternative placement at another school was rejected by the parents as the father submitted that the alternative school was ‘unsuitable’ because it was not predominantly white and this did not align with his daughter’s cultural values.
Wille found that the school had endeavoured over several years to accommodate the girl’s father and engaged with him over the years to restructure the payment of these arrears, notes the Cape Times report.
‘It is common cause on the papers that the father has not adhered to these agreements and has failed to comply with the payment terms he agreed to concerning the payment of the arrears due regarding his daughter's school fees,’ Wille said.
‘It seemed to me that the last straw that broke the camel's back was the father's flat-out refusal to sign the most recent restructuring agreement, which had been drafted in a last-ditch effort to record in writing the terms of the most recent agreement between the school and the father so that his daughter could be enrolled at the school for her next academic year,’ Wille noted.
According to the judgment, the private school also attempted to assist the family with enrolling the girl at an alternative school, which is government-subsidised, where the pupil's brother currently attends school.
The offer of the alternative placement was refused by the parents who were not legally represented – they were represented in person by the father.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
