03/04/2020
WHY SHOULD I PAY CRÈCHE FEES WHILST MY CHILD IS AT HOME?
Dear parents
Firstly, a BIG thank you to every one of you who are, despite these challenging times, continuing to pay your ECD school fees!
Sadly, thousands of crèche principals and their staff members across South Africa are really struggling financially because many parents stopped paying school fees when the ECD centres were required to close in mid-March.
We're living in really tough times. Lockdown means that many cannot work - and we do understand that many parents only receive payment for work done, some may have lost their jobs as a result of the Corona virus pandemic and also, micro- and small businesses have been hit really hard.
We understand this, truly. And we are trying to help wherever we can with what we have. Parents who have been affected financially please need to speak to their schools' principals and try and make arrangements.
There are, however, also parents who ARE able to pay and have simply decided not to so as the children are home. Let's take a moment to think about this.
- Non-payment is negatively affecting the principal's ability to survive and take care of her own family and pay her staff. Take some time to really think about that.
- These are the crèches that have been taking care of, teaching, nurturing and safeguarding your child every day, enabling you to go to work.
- These are also the crèches that you would, probably, want your children to RETURN to once Government gives the go-ahead. Non-payment may result in these crèches being forced to close their doors or lose staff. Who will take care of your children then?
- Also think about relationship. As a parent myself, I would really like to maintain a healthy, trusting relationship with the carers who look after and educate my children.
Our plea to parents is this: Please, do whatever you can to continue paying your fees. Speak to your principals to make arrangements if you are struggling. But don't just stop.
Crèches are small businesses. Our principals also need to buy groceries. They need to pay staff.
We cannot rely on them to nurture and educate our children with heart and soul - and then when we all face a crisis together, we let them down.
We need one another now more than ever before. We are
Stay safe, enjoy quality time with your kiddies at this time and let's keep supporting our schools so that our children still have safe and nurturing spaces to return to once this crisis is over...
*Geleen*
