EC Education Dept withdraws notice to deregister Bergview College

JOHANNESBURG - The Eastern Cape Department of Education has withdrawn its notice to deregister Bergview College.

This follows a pending legal showdown after the institution launched an urgent application before the High Court in Makhanda seeking to bar the move.

The provincial Education MEC, Fundile Gade, sought to deregister the school after the rape of a seven-year-old pupil allegedly on the school premises.

However, the board of trustees approached the superior court in an attempt to bar the MEC, calling it unlawful and arbitrary.

ALSO READ: Bergview College management says decision to deregister school irrational & unlawful

In papers before the High Court, the applicants had argued that the Schools Act prohibits authorities from deregistering the school without granting the owner an opportunity to make submissions on why the school should remain open.

The act also stipulates that the owner may appeal the decision to withdraw the registration of an institution.

Now, after the launch of the urgent interdict, the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape says it has withdrawn the decision after consultation with the justice system.

The director of communications, Vuyiseka Mboxela, said: "The Eastern Cape Department of Education then was convinced that the matter is receiving the attention it deserves and we then took a decision as a department to rescind the decision to close the school."

The department now says it has confidence in the multi-disciplinary teams handling the matter.

The Eastern Cape Education Department also cited concern over the sudden displacement of other learners at the institution.

Mboxela says the school has about 600 learners who would be displaced if the school were to be deregistered. 

“We know that close to 600 learners, if we were to continue closing the school were to be dislodged and they were to be a financial burden to their parents in different forms and shapes.”