KZN school faces backlash for withholding matric results over fee debt
PARENTS at Hillgrove Secondary in Newlands West, Durban, are appealing to the school to draw up a payment plan for those whose school fees is in arrears so that the school can release the matric results for matriculants who have applied at tertiary institutions.
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PARENTS at Hillgrove Secondary in Newlands West, Durban, claim the school is illegally withholding matric results from learners with outstanding fees, preventing university applications.
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PARENTS of matriculants at Hillgrove Secondary School in Newlands West have accused the school principal of unlawfully withholding matric results statements from learners whose families owe outstanding school fees.
According to parents, several pupils who had passed their matric examinations returned home distraught on Tuesday after being denied their results at the school.
The principal allegedly informed learners that no results statements would be released until outstanding fees were fully settled. One affected parent, Nozipho Hlongwa, said the decision has placed her daughter Olwami’s academic future in jeopardy.
“I know that I owe school fees, but it hurts that my child cannot secure a place at university because her results are being withheld simply because I can’t pay,” said Hlongwa.
She claimed that in September last year, the principal submitted a list of parents with outstanding fees to a debt collection agency.
“Every day we receive calls from this company demanding payment. The principal told us our names would be listed with credit bureaus, and we are told this has already happened, yet he is still keeping our children’s results,” Hlongwa said.
She added that while the school frequently reminded parents about outstanding fees, they were never informed that matric results would be withheld as a consequence.
“Even on Monday, when learners received messages to come and collect their results on Tuesday, there was no mention that those who owe fees would leave empty-handed,” she said.
Parents are now appealing to the school to release the results and allow families to enter into payment arrangements to settle their arrears. Hlongwa said she has been in arrears since 2022, when her daughter was in Grade 9.
“She never received her Grade 9 report. She progressed to Grade 10 because her form teacher told her she had passed. That is how she moved through the grades until reaching Grade 12,” she said.
An unemployed Hlongwa said she owes the school R8 000 and has no means of settling the amount after losing her job in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I tried paying in 2021, but by 2022 I could no longer manage. I eventually moved from Newlands to Lindelani because of the financial strain brought by Covid-19,” she said.
Another parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said in a few years ago she was helped by a teacher who photocopied her child's results which was needed at university. Her daughter is now doing her fourth year of study this year.
Attempts to obtain comment from the Hillgrove Secondary School principal were unsuccessful at the time of publication. KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Mlungisi Mtshali said the department was aware of the allegations and would look into the matter.