EQUAL EDUCATION TO PICKET THE PUBLIC INVESTMENT CORPORATION (PIC) TOMORROW, TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY AT 11AM, TO DEMAND THAT IT DIVESTS FROM CURRO HOLDINGS
Monday, 9 February 2015
Tomorrow Equal Education (EE) will be picketing the Public investment Corporation (PIC) to demand that there be an end to state-sponsored financial support of racial and economic segregation in our schools. EE will demand that the entirely state-owned PIC divest itself from Curro Holdings.
We learnt on 29 January from a report on Eye Witness News, that the Curro Foundation School in Roodeplaat has been practicing racial segregation by assigning learners of different races to different classes. Curro Holdings regional manager, Andre Pollard, first responded by saying that the segregation was so that; "children are able to make friends with children of their culture".
The second response, the more honest response, was that they were responding to the "white flight" in their schools. Pollard said there was pressure by white parents to not have their children sit with more black kids in class. In order to keep the white learners from leaving, Curro decided to implement a policy that racially segregates pupils.
Curro Holdings also openly discriminates on students based on their families economic status. At the top are "Curro Select" schools, costing R3,400-R6,200 per month, with 20-25 learners per class and "superior facilities". At the bottom are Curro's Meridian Schools, costing R1,000-R1,500 per month, and having 30-35 learners per class. In between, in two other gradations, are regular Curro Schools and Curro Academies. As Curro explains to parents, these schools are "based on different models and operating structures and fees therefore vary vastly." In short, students only get the education they can afford.