 |
|
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi
|
South Africa's largest private education firm Curro Holdings
said on Friday it would replace a school principal over racial segregation
complaints after officials threatened to close the institution.
Curro, which raised 740
million rand (US$61.10 million) last month to buy and expand its sprawling
school network in a nation dogged by the poor quality of public education, also
undertook to employ more black teachers.
Race in education remains
an emotive issue in South Africa. Under white minority rule, which ended in
1994, blacks were relegated to sub-standard government schools designed to
prepare them for little more than unskilled, manual labour.
Reuters report continues:
Panyaza Lesufi, the head
of education for the province of Gauteng, said in a statement he had given
Curro until the end of October to implement changes to the school's management
and hire a consultant to advise on race issues or face closure.
Curro, whose share price
has risen about seven-fold since listing in 2011, said the school head would be
replaced by year end.
The school in question,
located near the capital Pretoria, came under fire from parents and government
officials after a video appeared to show learners being separated along racial
lines on a field trip this month.
The school said it did
not separate students based on race, and would ensure learners attending field
trips would not in future be separated according to language or race.
In January, Curro was
also forced to deny similar allegations at the same school after a group of
around 30 parents signed a petition against what they said was racial
segregation in classrooms.
The school is one of more
than 40 run by Cape Town-based Curro, which has seen explosive growth since
listing on the Johannesburg exchange in 2011, reflecting surging demand for
private education from a growing black middle class.
South Africa's public
education is ranked among the worst in the world by the World Economic Forum,
prompting many middle class parents to turn to private schools.
Curro's shares were
virtually unchanged at 33.90 rand in early trade on Friday, compared with the
All Share Index that was down 0.66 percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment