How many state schools are there in South Africa and what percentage of these fall into quintiles 1-3?

In 2023, South Africa had 22,511 public schools, excluding early childhood development centres and special schools. 

Public education is funded by government through a pro-poor model that creates five categories of schools, called quintiles. These quintiles determine how much government funding each school gets. The schools in quintiles 1 to 3 are no-fee schools, and do not charge school fees. They get the majority of the government’s funding. Schools in quintiles 4 and 5 receive a small amount of government funding and are therefore allowed to charge school fees. 

A full list of schools that fall into quintiles 1-3 across all nine provinces is available on the Department of Basic Education website.