Damelin college student Farooq Jones (not his real name) was forced to miss his uncle’s funeral on Tuesday as he went to his campus in Braamfontein seeking an explanation about the college’s deregistration.
Jones, a third-year business management and marketing student from Westbury, spoke to TimesLIVE Premium from inside the campus after higher education minister Blade Nzimande's announcement of the deregistration of a string of colleges under the Educor group.
“My uncle was shot and killed, and today [Tuesday] was his funeral. I should have been with my family mourning, but I had to come to the college after I found out about the deregistration on the news,” Jones said.
They failed us. This breaks my heart, man. I would really like the college to get back on its feet and operate again.
— Farooq Jones, Damelin college student
Jones's hopes of visiting the campus to get more information from the institution were short-lived.
“There was no formal communication. When I got here, they told us to listen to the minister’s address and nothing else.”
He said the college’s troubles would delay his dreams.
“I was supposed to get my degree next year and leave the country to study further in Ireland. But now I do not know what is going to happen,” he said.
Jones said his father has paid a monthly fee of R5,000 over the past three years and was hoping the school could be salvaged for him to finish his qualification. The estimated cost spent more than three years amounts to R180,000.
Qualification means a lot
“I am from Westbury and getting a qualification means a lot for me. My father is a businessman, and I have always wanted to follow in his footsteps. He could not study business because his marks were not good enough. Being his firstborn son, I was trying to do what he was not able to do,” he said.
Westbury is a troubled part of Johannesburg that has, for the last few years, been a hotspot of gang-related violence.
Jones believes the college deceived students into thinking everything was fine by not communicating about the administrative collapse that had been brewing for a while.
“Last year, my mother phoned the school and asked what was going on, and they reassured her that they had submitted everything, but there was a problem with Educor and the government. They failed us. This breaks my heart, man. I would really like the college to get back on its feet and operate again.”
Another student, Sibusiso Mchunu (not his real name), told TimesLIVE Premium the deregistration would be a disappointment to his father who worked long hours as an e-hailing driver to pay for his fees.
“My father works very hard for me to be in college. I enrolled here last June and paid R3,500 monthly for an IT course. My father made sure since I started that he pays every month because he wanted me to get a qualification,” Mchunu said.
“Right now we are shocked and confused by the whole situation. We do not know what to do. On the other hand, we are no longer being taught, but the management is not saying anything as to what will happen.”
IT students said they were no longer being taught at the college after it was alleged robbers stole “all laptops and computers including those of lecturers” at the campus earlier this month.
Not hopeful for a refund
For Thembelihle Felani (not his real name) from Soweto the college’s deregistration was a “huge financial setback” as he had paid an annual fee of about R42,000.
“I am a second-year IT student and my parents have paid a lot of money. They do not pay monthly fees but pay an annual amount. They have made a lot of sacrifices to ensure I succeed in life. They even work during holidays because they are pushing for me and my three siblings to get quality education. My parents will be heartbroken by the news,” he said.
Felani was not hopeful he could get a refund from the college.
“If I can get a refund that would be good, but the way Educor is handling things I do not think we will get compensated because they are struggling to do simple things such as communication. It will be a battle for us to get refunded.”
Students attending Damelin colleges outside Johannesburg said matters have been unravelling for a few weeks.
Cancelled lessons
Moleme Phakoe's first year at Damelin college in Bloemfontein was characterised by absent lecturers, cancelled lessons and rumours of financial issues at the private institutions.
Despite this, the civil engineering student said the year progressed well and even though he ended up having to rewrite one module this year, he was all geared up to progress to his second year.
“I attended classes normally, but sometimes there were lectures and sometimes there would be problems about [payment], and students being dismissed from class. It had its problems,” he said.
Phakoe's supplementary exam was scheduled for this month, and even when he was told that his fellow students and lecturers had been removed from the Bloemfontein campus as it was apparently shutting down, it didn't raise alarm bells.
This was because he trusted that the college was the most suitable one for his qualification and his social anxiety.
“To be honest, I'm a bit frustrated. I don't know what to do. Obviously I'm disappointed,” he said of the latest development.
Phakoe is among 13,096 students who have been left stranded after it emerged last week that the college, along with several other institutions under Educor, had been deregistered by the department of higher education.
It was not just students who expressed their frustration, but parents expressed fears about what this meant for their children.
Some expressed their frustration, trauma and disappointment, saying they only became aware when the news broke on Tuesday.
Phakoe's mother, who did not want to be named, said her 19-year-old son was preparing for his supplementary exam and had gone to collect his timetable for the year in February.
“He hasn't attended classes since January as he was waiting to do a rewrite in March. Only after that would he have started attending classes for this year,” she said.
She confirmed that Phakoe had told her about the situation at the Bloemfontein campus but said nothing was communicated to parents.
“We tried to follow up and even [set up a] group as parents. We called their head office in Durban but either no-one answers or you get sent from pillar to post.
“We still don't know why the school is closed. We're only getting details now [with media reports], we didn't know anything.”
When Phakoe's mother finally got through to someone at the institution, she was told he would be transferred to Braamfontein to attend classes.
Vague answers
She detailed her frustration at the vague answers parents received to the countless queries, especially given the push from Damelin's side regarding payment of school fees. Phakoe's mother said she has forked out R29,000 so far.
“I'd already paid because they were pushing us to pay all the fees. They would call consistently to make payment arrangements. On top of that, I had to pay for the flat where he was staying since last year until now. Even now, I'm [still] paying for an unoccupied flat,” she said.
She also questioned what would happen to those students who had completed their courses and needed to graduate and get their certificate.
Also grappling with a similar dilemma is Manthabiseng Mosia, whose son was about to start his second-year in cybersecurity. She had already paid this year's registration and more than R30,000 for his first year.
According to Mosia, she was set to pay a R13,500 “deposit” in February, “which we didn't even know about or plan for” as they were initially only told of a R1,100 deposit back in January.
Despite this, she and her husband scrambled to get the money and as they were about to make the payment, the letter came through.
The letter, sent on February 27, announced the suspension of classes at the Bloemfontein campus “with immediate effect”.
“This is as a result of too few student enrolments to make it viable to operate. It is our intention to assist every rollover student to continue with their studies and there are three options available to you,” it said.
These are: to continue studying from home via Damelin's “virtual classes”, transfer to another Damelin campus, or apply to register at an alternative institution that provides a similar programme. No mention of reimbursement is mentioned in the letter. The letter was signed by Damelin CEO Michael Thurley.
It's affected us badly and created so much trauma at home, to the point that my son could not tell me when he got the letter as he was scared that I'd be angry with him.
— Manthabiseng Mosia, parent of Damelin student
TimesLIVE Premium tried to reach Thurley several times, with no success.
Detailing the effect this latest announcement had on her family, particularly her son, Mosia said: “It's affected us badly and created so much trauma at home, to the point that my son could not tell me when he got the letter as he was scared that I'd be angry with him.
“He wasn't well at all [the week the news broke] and was like a zombie because his heart was set on cybersecurity,” she said.
She too confirmed that no prior notice was given that the institution would be shut down. Making things worse was the fact that their pleas for transcripts went unheard, meaning there's no record of her son's first-year performance.
She was only told that he passed after he wrote a supplementary exam in January and was given the green light to register.
“My son also raised his suspicions about the payment of staff, but I told him to focus on his education,” she said.
Mosia's biggest worry was her son's reaction to the latest development. She said she has accepted what has happened, but her only wish is for the students in the various stages of their qualifications to get what's due to them, whether it's a refund, or transcripts, or a solution to the certification issue.
The education department’s director-general Nkosinathi Sishi cancelled the registrations of Educor institutions Damelin, CityVarsity, Lyceum and Icesa City Campus on Friday, saying they had not submitted annual financial statements in 2021 or 2022 or complied with the law. The institutions also had difficulties paying some of their academic staff last year and this year.
The four institutions were required to lodge an appeal on or before September 26 2023 but requested an extension to February 28. They are now requesting a further extension, the department said.
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