Despite the high priority education is given in the state’s budget, school fees are necessary to supplement state funding for public ordinary schools in South Africa. School fee inflation puts upward pressure on the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI). Except for 2021, since 2012, school fee inflation has consistently exceeded CPI. The main drivers of school fee inflation include decreasing state funding relative to enrolments, increasing reliance on School Governing Body teachers, an aging workforce, and cost-side inflationary pressures (wages and other operational costs)