The government’s educational reforms since 1994 have focused on equity and redress. Redressing historical imbalances and
achieving equity are fundamental policy mechanisms in attempts to restructure South African education. This aspiration is
demonstrated in many education policies including the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF) policy.
While inequalities in resource allocation from the state have been removed, inequalities persist due to the inability of the state
to provide free education to all, parents’ inability to pay user-fees, the unavailability of qualified teachers in rural schools
and unfavourable learner-teacher ratios. A quantitative research was conducted to investigate the implications of the NNSSF
policy on equity in public schools in the Tshwane West District of the Gauteng Province. Based on the three first order factors
derived from the first analytic procedure, namely, “The effective financial management”, “The management of equity issues”
and “Access to educational resources”, it was found that despite substantial government interventions in the education system,
equity has not been fully realised.

doi: 10.15700/201409161042