Curro denies GDE deal claims

CURRO SCHOOLS has told parents that it has no agreement with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to offer discounts at its private schools.

This revelation comes after Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said on Tuesday that the Grade 1 and 8 pupils’ parents would pay fees equivalent to the fees they would pay at public schools where their children were originally placed.

The discounts would have been as high as 30% in fees.

Lesufi announced that the department had clinched a deal with Curro that all unplaced Grade 1 and 8 pupils would be admitted to the private school group.

Curro Holdings marketing and communications head Mari Lategan said: “Fees remain in place and aligned to our business model, not to that of public school fees.”

She also said that before being admitted, pupils needed to meet the Curro internal criteria that included an entrance test.

“By assisting the GDE with 2020 placements, Curro hopes to support the department in meeting its mandate and to help ensure that no child is prevented from accessing education within Gauteng,” she said.

Lategan said talks between Curro and the department regarding the admission of pupils were still in progress.

GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona said that administrative deliberation with Curro was being finalised and that they would make an announcement soon.

This leaves parents like Duduzile Tshabalala in limbo. Her child was accepted and then subsequently rejected. However, the parent only found this out when she arrived with her son for his first day of Grade 1 at Fairview Junior School in Troyeville yesterday.

Tshabalala told The Star that she had applied online and had followed the correct application procedure, and was told she would be prioritised because her son had a sibling in the school.

Tshabalala waited for the SMS to notify her that her son had been given a place but it never came.

“In November, I got an SMS that said my child has been placed at Fairview Junior School – but I don’t like that school and I didn’t even apply there,” she said.

The confused mother went to the department’s offices where she was told that the system reflected that she accepted the placement, however, she maintained that she did not receive the offer.

Yesterday when she arrived at Fairview, she was informed the school was full and had no space for her child.

“I arrived in the morning and they told me ‘we don’t want the child. We can’t take any more, we’re also overcapacity’ and they gave me a letter to give to the department,” the mother said.

She said she went to the department’s head office in Simmonds Street but lost patience and left.

“I don’t know what to do now because it means that tomorrow I’ll need to skip work and wait for a call from the other school or department,” Tshabalala said.

She said that she had heard about the department’s partnership with Curro.

However, she couldn’t afford the fees and didn’t want one of her children to attend a private school while the other didn’t. |