Targeting bogus schools, the Gauteng Education Department (GDE) says it will step up ‘Operation Vala’, an initiative by the provincial education department to deter the opening of unregistered schools.
The department recently closed down Milton Park English Foundation school, a school that had been run by Zimbabwean nationals in Tembisa since 2018. Panyaza Lesufi, a former MEC for education in Gauteng, shut down roughly 20 additional unregistered schools last year.
The provincial department’s Head of Department, Edward Mosuwe says that the high influx of people migrating to the province annually has led to a surge in the number of applications from those who would like to establish and operate independent schools in the province.
According to the Gauteng government, an individual or business can apply to register an independent school with the Gauteng Department of Education if it meets the following requirements:
It must meet the minimum requirements compared to that of a public school, this includes, appropriate facilities that meet Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) requirements. It must have credible teachers that are registered with the South African Council of Educators (SACE) and have proper financial and governance management systems.
Head of the Department further points out that, when it comes to these unregistered schools, they often find that these schools operate in hidden backyards and that as soon as they find out about them, the department issues a letter demanding that the school be closed down.
To that extent, we've always ensured where we get to know that there is a bogus school that is operating we immediately send out a letter to that institution to tell them to close and we report that matter to the law enforcement agencies as well.
The department also sends a communique to the corresponding district to inform the parents of learners who may have taken their children to the bogus school to remove them from it.
