Panyaza Lesufi Closes Down 20 Illegal Schools In Ivory Park. The MEC of education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, has closed down 20 schools that were illegally functioning in Ivory Park.
The MEC of education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, has closed down 20 schools that were illegally functioning in Ivory Park. The Department of Education is holding a procedure of examining the learners that were impacted, so that the learners can decide where to put the learners and in which grades they should be in. Last week, it was discovered that three schools were functioning illicitly.
The schools are Star Combined School, Our Legacy Combined and Four Comprehensive. In the light of the three schools, it was also found that there were 17 other institutions that were functioning illegally in Ivory Park. The parents of the learners were spending between R400 and R450 each month, the schools had learners from Grade R until Grade 9. The MEC of Education in Gauteng spoke with the parents and told them that they need to help the Department of Education in shutting down the illicit schools. Panyaza Lesufi gave the parents a time period of when to sort themselves out before they appoint the learners to the relevant government institutions.
The MEC of Education in Gauteng says, “You’ve got until Sunday to sort out everything. We understand that you might have been misinformed. However, I have spoken to all the principals from government schools in the area to absorb these children. They will all be shared to all our schools. We are going to deal with the interest of the child.” Some parents were shocked to learn that the schools they applied their children in were not registered. Some parents’ children were in the schools for years. One parent says she can’t take her child to a government school because they are Zimbabweans and the child doesn’t have a South African birth certificate.
Some of the educators were not registered to be educators. One of the educators told SABC News that he failed his matric. The news broadcaster also found out that the school yards were safe, with live wires on the play grounds and open sewerages. Some of the residents in the area told SABC News that the some of the learners in the school do not have birth certificates.
by Alexandra Ramaite
