Johannesburg - All six matriculants at an independent school in Midrand that charges parents R1600 a month in fees, failed their exams, according to Sunday's Rapport newspaper.
The Boulders Techno School, an independent school, was Gauteng's only school with zero successful matriculants last year. Its matriculants wrote the basic education department's national senior certificate.
According to the school's website, pupils and parents can expect “academic excellence” and “a great dosage of technology”.
The nearby Midrand High School, which charged R1000 a month in 2013, achieved a 97.6 percent matric pass rate last year. Centurion High, where parents paid R1400 a month, boasted a 100 percent pass rate.
Prince Sinamane, the school's principal and managing director, ignored Rapport's queries about its matric performance and high fees.
When a parent queried the school's credibility on its Facebook page in 2012, the school stated that some “malicious rumours” were “disturbalizing (sic) the vibrance of the most growing school in Midrand”.
The school's Facebook page recently had the following status:
“We have proudly moved to a state of the art premises and re-engeneered (sic) ourselves and geared for a refreshing and stimuloating (sic) learning experience for our children.”
Sinamane, who uses the title “dr” on the school's website, attributes the following quote to himself on the site: “There is no relationship to anything if there is not the right feeling for beauty, a response to nature, to music and art, a highly developed aesthetic sense.”
A Google search reveals these words are from Indian intellectual Jiddu Krishnamurti.
One parent, Karen Lynn Bishop, told Rapport: “There were all sorts of promises about technology, but when my son was in the school there was only one working computer.”
Another parent of a former Boulders pupil, who wanted to remain anonymous, said at one stage some of the children were taught in Sinamane's garage after he failed to pay rent for the school's previous premises.
The newspaper visited the school on Friday, where an employee indicated there were currently 89 children from grade R to grade nine enrolled. The employee said a decision was taken last year to no longer provide tuition for matric pupils. -Sapa