plans to sue Gauteng
Philippa Garson
THE Gauteng Education Department is facing legal action for closing down a private school without giving reasons.
When George Zachos opened a private high school next to his marketing college in Johannesburg, he didn’t bargain for the “nightmare” he claims he suffered, a nightmare he has “no words to describe.”
Although Zachos says he followed procedures in applying to register his school, it was shut down last month without even a visit from a Gauteng government official.
Reports of the shut-down in a local newspaper led to outrage and verbal abuse from parents and pupils at his school, who left in disgust. Of the 136 pupils he enrolled, he now has only 20. In the absence of official notification of the closure, teaching is continuing.
A distraught Zachos says his school has been closed down in contravention of the Gauteng School Education Act, which says reasons for closure must be given.
While many “fly-by-night” schools are regarded with justifiable suspicion by officials and the public alike for being unscrupulous money- making ventures, Zachos’ school seems an honest exception. According to his records, he has employed highly qualified teachers for standard nine and 10 pupils and charges fees of R3 000 a year, payable in monthly instalments. This is less than many state- aided schools charge. Housed in an office building in Kensington, Johannesburg, the school is well-equipped.
“We wanted to set up the school to offer quality maths and science,” said Zachos, adding that many of his marketing students enrolling for a three-year tertiary course, internationally-accredited by the Institute of Marketing Management, lacked the educational grounding to succeed.
His story of unfair treatment appears to be a consequence of apparent tensions or lack of communication between the old guard and new in the education bureaucracy.
When Zachos approached provincial officials about the registration of his proposed school last year, he drew a blank, he says, adding that he was referred from one official to another and “given the run-around”.
He finally landed at the offices of the Transvaal Education Department Education Agency Service in Pretoria which falls under the auspices of the Gauteng Education Department and performs some of its functions — including registering private schools — until the department takes up these functions itself.
At the TED agency Zachos was given a list of requirements and an application form for registration, where he was asked to compile details about his students and teachers. He went ahead with registering pupils, employing teachers and meeting the requirements, spending R100 000 setting up the school. He was given a verbal go-ahead from the agency.
He received a required municipal health certificate and went ahead with his application. On January 25 he and his principal Jack Verster attended a meeting with Johannesburg district director Thami Mali.
Verster was at the meeting and was apparently told, along with two other principals, to close their schools. “We explained to him that the offices of the TED component are aware of the school and they have given us approval to proceed with operations. Mr Mali okayed some other schools, but not ours,” said Zachos.
Repeated attempts to set up a follow-up meeting with Mali failed, says Zachos, and the next he heard about the closure was in the press. Mali was quoted in an article saying unless the three schools, including Metropolitan College and St Kizito College, closed down, they would face legal action.
“People went beserk. Students and parents wanted to hit me. They abused me and called me a crook. I have no words to describe what I went through,” said an agitated Zachos. Although teaching continued, students left in droves.
Early this month education superintendent Helen Button visited the school. “My understanding was the school was highly recommended for approval” said Zachos.
The recommendation was forwarded to superintendent general James Maseko for approval early this month but Zachos has heard nothing, despite repeated faxes and letters to both Maseko and education MEC Mary Metcalfe.
“I am being ruined. I am paying for teachers. I have 20 students left and they are not paying their fees.”
Zachos’s lawyers have issued an ultimatum to the education department to supply reasons for the school’s closure; otherwise he plans to take the matter to the Supreme Court. “Forget about the money, you cannot believe the pain and stress this has caused me.”
Gauteng education MEC Mary Metcalfe said she would intervene to resolve the crisis and would request a report from the department. Metcalfe said illogicalities in procedures for setting up private schools, such as the fact that a school must be functional before it can be registered, are being addressed. “Cases like these make it even more urgent,” she said.
Maseko said he was waiting for a report from Mali’s office. “If there were procedural errors committed from our side, we’ll rectify this.”