Private schools’ powers affirmed by court
The Durban High Court has ruled that independent schools are not governed by the same laws as public schools.
|||Durban - The Durban High Court ruled on Wednesday that independent schools were not governed by the same laws that applied to public schools and could decide which pupils they wanted to enrol.
Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel was dealing with a case brought by a father, who is not being named to protect the identity of his child, who said that St Francis College had decided last November that his son would not be allowed back to do his Grade 11 this year, because of what the school said was his bad attitude.
St Francis College, in Mariannhill, is an independent Catholic school.
The father brought an application in February this year asking that the court direct the school to enrol his son.
An interim order was granted in the father’s favour and the son was enrolled at the school pending finalisation of the matter.
In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, Judge Ploos van Amstel discharged the inte-rim order with costs, saying the school did not have to enrol the child.
On Wednesday the parents, who spoke to The Mercury, said they would apply for leave to appeal against the court’s judgment.
The boy’s mother said their son, who had been at the school since Grade 8, did not have a poor disciplinary record.
She said she had been taken by surprise by the school’s decision and did not agree with what the school had said about her child’s attitude.
“This is emotionally draining. We are going to fight this ruling because we do not understand what the problem is,” she said.
According to the judgment, the school said the boy had not failed any subjects or committed any acts that warranted expulsion. However, the school said teachers believed the boy was disrespectful and he had told teachers that he was not happy at the school and did not want to be there.
The school said it prided itself on a good academic record and the management took a decision that the pupil could have a negative influence on other pupils.
When the matter was argued, counsel, acting for the father, had argued that the father had not been given sufficient time to find another school for his son.
But the school said the time given was adequate.
Judge Ploos van Amstel said independent schools were distinguishable from public schools.
“The relationship between the school and its learners is contractual and the school is not obliged to accept anyone. The applicant (father) has not shown that he has any contractual right to demand that his son be admitted.”
He said St Francis College had the right to decline to enter into a further contract and this right was contained in the contract between the parties.
He also said the argument that the one-term, or three-month, termination notice in the contract did not apply to this case as the contract for 2015 had run its course.
The Mercury