Gauteng Department of Education to relocate kids from Unregistered Crowthorne Christian Academy

• Gauteng's Education Department is shutting down Crowthorne Christian Academy after discovering it was operating illegally
• The unregistered school's pupils will be relocated to nearby schools in Midrand, North of Johannesburg
• South Africans have shared various opposing opinions on the Christian school's recent controversy

JOHANNESBURG - The Department of Education in Gauteng has decided to close down Crowthorne Christian Academy following the school's controversy.

The school trended on social media after a video of the principal, Tanya Booysen's husband, allegedly manhandling a 13-year-old pupil and her mother over her dreadlocks went viral.

Pupils at Joburg Christian school to be relocated

IOL reports that since the school is unregistered and has been operating illegally, the pupils will be moved to neighbouring schools in Midrand, North of Johannesburg.

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The school has been in the headlines for barring the young pupil from attending class because she had dreadlocks. Tanya argued that extensions are prohibited and wanted the teenager to remove them.

The girl's mother tried to explain that her dreadlocks were natural hair, leading to the alleged assault incident. Andries Booysen was arrested and released on R2 000 bail on Thursday, 17 August. He is expected to appear in court on 2 October, reports EWN.

In a statement seen by Briefly News, the Gauteng Department of Education's spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department initially did not want to close the school but help management get it registered.

Mabona said they made multiple attempts to contact the school's management but refused to engage with officials.

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"We have made multiple attempts to reach out to the school’s management through various forms of communication and physical visits with law enforcement agencies, but the school refuses to open its gates and respond to our communication.

We have therefore taken a decision to give the school a notice of closure as they are operating illegally," said Mabona.

Parents are encouraged to contact the department for assistance because it believes the school can no longer effectively educate children.

South Africans share their thoughts

@SebinTdr said:

"So we still have parents who rush to send their kids to these unregistered schools. Shame."

@CynZA01 said:

"Good. The school was operating illegally anyway. Not very Christian behaviour if you ask me..."

Mfanfikile Treasure said"

"If this incident didn't happen this illegal school was going to operate ‍♂️‍♂️‍♂️"

EFF condemns Crowthorne Christian Academy

Briefly News previously reported that the Economic Freedom Fighters in Gauteng condemned the Crowthorne Christian Academy for kicking the learner out of class because she had dreadlocks.

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The party accused the school of instituting racist policies targeting black learners. The school's hair policy states that all learners must have natural hair. The EFF criticised:

"This policy is predicated on the racist notion that natural hair means relaxed and straightened hair inherent to white people, whereas curly hair and dreadlocks, characteristic of black people’s hair, are considered unnatural and therefore prohibited from the school."

Source: Briefly News