Cape Town - Members of the Zwelethemba High School in Worcester’s school governing body (SGB) are up in arms over the school’s continued classification as a “collaboration school” despite the contract with the school’s collaboration partner having expired in December.
Collaboration schools are public schools where non-profit organisations collaborate with the education department to provide additional skills and resources.
In November last year Equal Education and the South African Democratic Teachers Unions lodged a court challenge against the WCED collaboration school’s programme.
The SGB recently met with the ANC’s provincial education spokesperson, Khalid Sayed, to discuss their concerns and last week picketed the school while handing over a memorandum to the Cape Winelands District WCED on the issue.
They also shared the memorandum with Sayed, who handed it to Education MEC David Maynier in the legislature as they were discussing the school’s situation with regard to the collaboration schools programme.
Sayed also told Maynier that the SGB members allege there are teachers who left the school, but are still receiving “salary advice” from the school’s finance officer despite no longer working there.
“This gives legitimacy to the concerns that there may be ghost teachers at the school,” Sayed said.
Maynier said the department was aware of the SGB’s allegations and was assessing them.
Praising the collaboration schools programme, Maynier said it was a unique public-private partnership that provides high quality no-fee education to 1000s of learners in poor communities.
“Of course, there are scenarios where existing collaboration schools feel that the model is not suitable for their school. That is why we have built in an exit optioning model. So that the schools revert to public ordinary schools, as is the case with Zwelethemba High School.”
He said after they opted to opt out of the programme, Zwelethemba High’s status was set to revert to that of an ordinary state school in September this year.