Illegal junior school reopens

AN illegal Nelson Mandela Bay primary school shut down by the education authorities last year has resurfaced under a different name.

The Sydenham school, now called Bonzai Primary School, is still not registered with the provincial Department of Education, but claims to have applied for registration.

The school opened in 2012, piggy-backing on the registration number of neighbouring Dr Viljoen Primary School. It takes in the English-speaking pupils who cannot be accommodated there.

It is run by “principal” Tracy Potgieter, who was not available to comment as she was in hospital for a knee operation.

School secretary Debra Miller insisted they were running legally as “application forms were sent to the department so they know about this”.

However, district director Dr Nyathi Ntsiko said he was unaware the school had resurfaced. While Ntsiko had said last year the department was satisfied with how pupils were taught at the thennameless school, he was concerned it was still not registered.

“Pupils could be disadvantaged when they want to go on to a new school for Grade 4 because they are basically being schooled outside the normal system,” he said. “I am supposed to sign off on such matters but this was not brought to my attention.”

A search at the provincial education headquarters’s EMIS database, on which all registered schools are listed, yielded nothing for Bonzai Primary School. The department’s Park Drive offices also said the school was not a registered primary school.

Dr Viljoen principal Solomon Gouws said they had “jurisdiction over the school until they are registered” and were monitoring the work done there.