Constitutional Court to decide on independent school's right to expel pupils

The Constitutional Court will on Wednesday hand down judgment in the Pridwin Preparatory School case where the school terminated a contract with parents of two pupils.

The pupils were effectively expelled from the independent Johannesburg school after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed an appeal by their parents to have the cancellation of their contracts with the school set aside.

Equal Education (EE) said the judgment will not only affect elite independent schools, but will also have consequences for the rights of pupils from poor and working-class families who attend low-fee independent schools.

The school cancelled the two contracts between itself and the parents on June 30‚ 2016.

The parents applied to the high court in Johannesburg for the cancellation of the contracts to be set aside.

In December 2016‚ an interim order was granted by the high court to the effect that the children would be entitled to remain in school pending the parents’ challenge‚ including any appeals.

“Due to a dispute between the school and the parents, the school sought to exclude the learners, relying on a provision in their contract with the parents that allowed the school to terminate the contract 'for any reason',” said EE spokesperson Tad Khosa.

“Equal Education was successfully admitted as amicus curiae [friend of the court] when the case was heard in the high court ... EE, represented by the Equal Education Law Centre, demonstrated that low-fee independent schools are growing in SA, and highlighted that broad, open-ended contract termination clauses, as the one used in this case, do not ensure that the right to education is protected and that the obligation to ensure the best interests of the child are taken into account is upheld.”

The high court dismissed the parents’ case in 2017, and the SCA dismissed their appeal in 2018. EE did not participate in the appeal to the SCA. The parents then lodged an application for leave to appeal in the Constitutional Court.