By Rorisang Modiba
Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande criticised the Educor group for its lack of action following the deregistration of its colleges, including Damelin, CityVarsity, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum.
A notice in the Government Gazette of 22 March stated that these Educor-owned colleges were deregistered.
The reasons mentioned are that they failed to submit the right audited financial statements for 2021 and 2022, and breached the Higher Education Act requirements which led to their deregistration.
Educor has not provided its financial documents in the past, having been warned of potential deregistration in 2022 for not submitting its financial reports for the year 2020.
“In addition to failing to submit evidence of their financial viability to the department, the four Educor brands can be deemed as dysfunctional … mainly measured against the daily complaints and grievances received from students, most of which remain unresolved,” Nzimande said in a press conference on Tuesday, BusinessTech reported.
Several complaints have been levelled against Educor.
These include poor quality of teaching, inadequate administrative support, underqualified staff, instances of corruption and bribery, unresponsiveness to requests for refunds, a lack of professionalism, exploitation of economically disadvantaged students, and issues with staff compensation, specifically non-payment and underpayment of salaries.
The minister said he remembered receiving a complaint that students were given marks based on exam scripts that were never marked because the lecturers, who were no longer being paid, were no longer at work
“This is the worst sin that can be committed by an educational institution, public or private,” he said.
Minister Nzimande found that Educor claimed to have 50,000 students, but only about 13,000 were enrolled.
These colleges must now, within two weeks, tell their students that they are closing, give them their grades, and pay back their fees or compensate them.
Pictured above: Damelin.
Image source: Damelin
