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.
school
Curro, which raised 740 million rand ($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.
ADVERTISING
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.
ADVERTISING
No comments:
Post a Comment