NYAKALLO TEFU
THE Independent Examinations Board (IEB) has hit back at Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi’s claims that it wants to force the poor to carry its financial burden.
This comes after Lesufi claimed that the IEB approached the courts arguing it could not afford to pay for the assessment services offered by Umalusi.
Lesufi said he was surprised by the IEB’s attempts to “force the poor to carry their financial burden” and said that independent schools body needed to find other ways of funding their activities or they must cease to exist.
But in a statement, the IEB said this is untrue.
“It is unfortunate that the Gauteng Member of the Executive Council, MEC Lesufi, has chosen to place this matter in the public domain at a time when it is before the High Court,” the IEB said in a statement.
The IEB said the matter concerns what it has experienced as improper charging of fees going back to 2016.
“The IEB wishes to reiterate that it has consistently and timeously paid for all valid and legitimate charges levied by Umalusi that are in accordance with its policy that is implemented in accordance with its own dictums and in accordance with well-established principles of the law. The matter concerns what the IEB has experienced as improper charging of fees going back to 2016,” the board said in a statement.
The board further said it was currently awaiting the judgment on the 2016 issue and address the matter after the judgment was delivered.
“The IEB will address the inaccuracies and unfounded accusations of this report once the court has given its judgement and believes that the court is best placed to make a fair and impartial judgement with regard to this matter.”
Lesufi said the IEB approached the courts, saying it could not afford to pay for the assessment services offered by Umalusi.
“The IEB must withdraw its court case. This case exposes that they have been having freebies for quite some time, that the poor have been subsidizing their activities,” said Lesufi.
Lesufi said he was also alarmed by the failure of the IEB to publicly publicize their financial records and their business operation.
Lesufi said that the independent schools body needed to find other ways of funding their activities or they must cease to exist.
“We want to warn IEB not to expose themselves that poor children have been subsidising them for ages without them paying for UMALUSI’s assessment services. For years, the state, through an annual grant to UMALUSI have been bankrolling the certification of the rich.
IEB has a mere 12 000 matric learners compared to the more than 1 million matric learners in the public education sector,” said Lesufi.
“So the IEB and other bodies have been getting ‘freebies’ from a public institution and now they want the courts to legitimise it. When exposed they rush to court to request the court to endorse their free ride. What an arrogant and silly way to resolve matters.”
(SOURCE: Inside Education)
