Communities warned of bogus colleges

To drive this campaign, the AIP has called on it members around the country to investigate the authenticity of independent schools and colleges operating in their areas. “The aim is to educate local communities about some of the schools and colleges that fleece students out of millions each year, while providing inferior and sometimes unregistered courses which are of no educational value to the students,” the AIP’s Mathapelo Thipe said in a statement.

In the statement, the AIP pointed out that many of these ‘fly-by-night’ colleges are run by people who have no interest in the education of the hundreds of innocent and unsuspecting students that they lure with their colorful and misleading brochures.

“The quality of the education offered at these colleges also often leaves a lot to be desired,” said the organisation’s Louise Vale, who is behind the drive.

Of the few colleges probed by Kathorus MAIL around Ekurhuleni in the past, a number were found to be dishonest with the details they provided to potential students in their brochures. The information some gave regarding their credentials was found to be false.

Others were found to be offering courses or subjects for which they were not accredited by the relevant SETA or the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). Most were not even registered with the DHET for the courses they were purportedly offering to their students.

According to the AIP, most of these bogus schools and colleges are situated in townships and cities around the country. They target vulnerable school drop-outs and learners with low or below average marks who cannot afford to further their education at formal institutions.

Most of these learners come from poor communities and see the courses offered by these bogus colleges as the only means to improve their lives. And it is often the poor and financially hard-pressed families, many of them with single parents or elderly guardians, mostly pensioners, who end up having to pay for these learners.

The AIP slammed the shoddy quality of the courses offered by these ‘colleges’, and urged learners and parents to be vigilant and guard against them.

“We want to see communities making a stand against unscrupulous colleges, and appeal to both parents and learners to first check the credentials of the college with the Department of Higher Education and Training before committing themselves to anything concerning the education of their children,” said Vale.

Kathorus Mail is also appealing to parents and students to report any bogus school or college operating fraudulently in their area.