What is the quintile system?
South Africa's school quintile system is a classification used by the Department of Basic Education to allocate funding to public schools. Schools are ranked from Quintile 1 (serving the most economically disadvantaged communities) to Quintile 5 (serving the least disadvantaged communities). The classification is based on the income levels, unemployment rates, and literacy levels of the community surrounding the school — not on the school's own performance or quality of teaching.
How are quintiles determined?
The national poverty table assigns a poverty score to each area based on census data. Schools inherit the poverty score of the area where they are physically located. This means a school's quintile reflects the economic conditions of its surrounding community. The Department of Basic Education uses these scores to place each school into one of five quintile bands. Provincial education departments may adjust quintile boundaries based on local conditions.
What quintiles mean for school fees
Quintile 1, 2, and 3 schools are designated as "no-fee schools" — they may not charge mandatory school fees. These schools receive higher per-learner funding from the government to compensate. Quintile 4 and 5 schools may charge school fees, with Quintile 5 schools typically charging the highest fees. However, in practice, many Quintile 4 schools (and some Quintile 5) have also been declared no-fee by their provincial education department — in the Western Cape alone, over 200 Q4/Q5 public schools are no-fee. All public schools must have a fee exemption policy for families who cannot afford fees, regardless of quintile.
What quintiles do NOT tell you
A school's quintile reflects community wealth, not school quality. A Quintile 1 school may have dedicated educators and strong community involvement, while a Quintile 5 school may face its own challenges. On SchoolSeek, we always compare schools within the same quintile group — because comparing a Quintile 1 school to a Quintile 5 school would be comparing their communities' economic circumstances, not their educational environments.
Independent schools and quintiles
Independent (private) schools are not assigned a quintile, as the system only applies to public schools funded by the government. On SchoolSeek, independent schools are grouped separately in peer comparisons.
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Data sourced from the Department of Basic Education EMIS database. Read our full methodology