District officials to be charged for not taking action at a Bryanston school

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says district officials assigned to assist Bryneven Primary School‚ where parents were protesting against its principal on Tuesday‚ must be charged for failing to attend to its problems.

Speaking to Radio 702 on Wednesday‚ Lesufi admitted that there were problems at the Bryanston school and that district officials had not done anything when parents complained.

“Our district officials let us down big time. I’ve asked the district director to take some corrective measures against all our officials that are deployed to attend to that school. There is a clear pattern that we believe is unfortunate because if that pattern was not there‚ we would not have the problems that we have. We have to stop appearing in parliament to solve the problem‚” Lesufi said.

On Tuesday‚ Lesufi visited the school after parents held a protest following allegations of corruption‚ fraud and nepotism levelled against the school principal. Lesufi said he was concerned to note that about 14 educators had resigned from the school within a year‚ citing victimisation by the principal.

The education department said on Tuesday that parents had complained about a Grade 2 teacher who is not skilled in teaching Afrikaans and accused the principal of mismanaging funds.

The department has appointed an independent firm to conduct an audit of financial records for the past three years at the school.

According to the department‚ the principal and other members of the school management team will have to give reasons why they should not be suspended. The school governing body will also have to explain why it should not be dissolved.

The department will also “persuade” those teachers who resigned to return to the school.

“We are also reliably informed that some of our schools intend withholding learners’ report cards because their parents are in arrears on school fees. That practice is illegal and cannot be allowed in our schools‚” said Lesufi.