Tension runs high at Strausburg College
Tensions have been running high in the past few weeks at Strausburg College over the alleged genuity of the school.
The problems emerged when the school told parents of the current Grade 10 and Grade 11 learners that they must start registering their children at other schools for 2022, “because from next year the school will only teach Grade R to Grade 10”.
The parents told the Herald that the founder of the school, Simon Masete, had told them that the reason for asking them to take their children to other institutions is because he wants to register the college with the Independent Education Board (IEB).
The concerned parents started doing their own investigation and allegedly discovered that the Grade 12 learners have been registered by the school as part-time repeating learners and not full-time learners.
They are accusing the school of placing the future of their children in jeopardy.
A parent of a Grade 12 learner who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Herald, that she was forced to move her child to another school immediately.
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“I have had no choice but to register my child at another school as I don’t know what is going on at Strausburg College.
“At the new school they have demoted my child to Grade 11 and there is nothing I can do about it, he has lost an entire year.
“I lost the school fees for the year as I paid Strausburg in full in advance,” the disgruntled parent stated.
The Herald spoke to Masete, who said that the school is registered with the Limpopo Department of Education, but there is still a delay in attaining an exam centre number, which he already applied for.
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“The reason we asked the parents to remove the current Grade 10 and 11 learners is because we are in the process of registering with the IEB, which requires that we start from Grade R to Grade 12.
“We also believe that the IEB is more beneficial for the learners, as the quality of results from IEB are better and offers more resources to learners,” he explained.
Masete added that parents of the other learners can rest assure that their kids are in safe hands and there is nothing to worry about.
He believes people are blowing the issue out of proportion. Meanwhile, Tidimalo Chuene, spokeswoman of the Limpopo Department of Education, confirmed that the college is registered as a school, but it is not registered as an exam centre for the national senior certificate.
She also added that the current Grade 12 learners will however be able to write their final exams at an alternative registered exam centre, but write their trial exams at the school.
