Residents, police shut down Mamelodi RDP school
The owner of the school failed to provide documents relating to the zoning certificate for educational purposes and no registration certificate from the Department of Basic Education recognising the institution nor academic qualifications of the principal himself.
Concerned residents of Nellmapius, with the help of police, have shut down an illegal school operating from a RDP house on Monday.
Police arrested two people during the closure of the school in Nellmapius Extension 6 while one escaped.
The school offered grades 1 to 8 education to about 70 learners, according to the angry residents.
Police spokesperson Captain Johan Van Dyk confirmed that a school had been closed and two suspects arrested on charges of fraud.
Van Dyk said the local councillor had raised concerns about a school operating from an RDP house in Nellmapius.
He said the police proceeded to the location and found three people suspected to be the educators; two men and one woman, who all failed to produce their qualifications.
The two male suspects were arrested, and the female suspect escaped.
“Police also found about 70 children wearing uniforms and two buildings, one being an RDP that was used as a classroom. The classes are from grade R1-8,” said Van Dyk.
The Department of Education district coordinator was informed, who said a memo would be written to inform the parents not to bring their children to school as it was allegedly not registered.
He also said the Department of Home Affairs was informed to intervene regarding the teachers who are foreign nationals.
The Department of Social Development was also informed about the children to provide them psychological support, where needed.
Rekord spoke to the concerned residents of Nellmapius who aided in the closure of the school.
According to the frustrated residents, they decided to take action by removing all the tables and chairs from the so-called school and demanded its closure.
Leader of Nellmapius Extension 6 community Caroline Mlambo said the community was unhappy over the school operating from an RDP house.
She said the school operated five days a week from 08:00 to 14:00 with afternoon lessons from 15:00 to 17:00.
Mlambo claimed that parents payed R350 a month per child for schooling.
She said it was unsettling to see a house that many locals needed being taken over by criminality and not being used for its purpose.
“There are a lot of people looking for residential places and still on the waiting list for RDP houses, but this one is turned into a place of business running an illegal school,” said Mlambo.
Mlambo questioned how parents would also send their children to a school with over 70 learners to be taught by only two teachers.
Local ward councillor Joel Masilela said questioned the standard of education offered to the children.
“The bottom line is that they are provided with a substandard education, and tomorrow their qualifications won’t be worth the paper they are written on, thus imposing them as a burden to the country,” he said.
According to Masilela, a similar incident unfolded last year, where residents had to intervene and force a school to close down.
Masilela, however, appealed to residents not to resort to mob justice tactics when dealing with the issue of illegal schools.
He appealed to anyone thinking about setting up illegal schools to desist from doing so.
The Gauteng Department of Education was yet to comment by the time of publishing.
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