SCHOOLS shut at the height of Covid-19 infections ushering in the rise of online learning but concerned parents and education authorities have cautioned about the pitfalls of the virtual classroom.
Disgruntled parents who registered their children to attend a SEAT Academy, an online school, have warned about the drawbacks of these online institutions.
The academy has 2400 learners registered for 13 grades around the country.
However, some parents have raised concerns over the management of the school and a list of problems including the cancellation of classes daily, a lack of report cards to monitor learners’ progress and parents being roped in to mark their children’s test or exam.
An employer at the academy also told Weekend Argus that 17 tutors had submitted a minute’s notice recently because they has not been paid their salaries.
Disgruntled parent, Robin Adams, said he opted for an online school because his 14-year-old son wasn't able to get into a school near home this year.
“I didn't want his academic studies negatively impacted and the SEAT Academy came highly recommended. My son started with them in April. He missed the first term and had to play catch-up.”
Adams said red flags started popping up after the June exams. He repeatedly emailed the academy about the progress of reports and exam results but he didn’t receive any response.
“I wanted to know about his progress because it would serve as a gauge as to whether or not the online/home schooling was actually working.
“Then I heard that the rolling blackouts hampered exams and classes and kids would have to rewrite their tests in July or August.”
Adams said he emailed the academy recently to enquire about his son’s progress, but again received no reply.
Adams said he also called the numbers on the academy’s website, which didn’t work. In the meantime, he stumbled across some reviews on Hello Peter, which left him feeling even more concerned.
Most parents complained they weren't able to speak to anyone at SEAT Academy because no-one answered their calls or responded to their emails.”
After visiting the academy's offices in Century City, Adams said he learnt that the receptionist was off sick so there was nobody to answer the phones.
He was also informed by the Operations Manager Melissa Davids, that the resignation of tutors had directly impacted classes, most of which were cancelled, which also affected the marking of assessments and exams.
“Ms Davids told me that because they had such a problem with marking assignments and exams, a group of parents volunteered to do it. Currently, they are hard at work marking the outstanding work. I am not even sure if this is ethical.
“My fear, of course, is that this will further negatively impact my son and other (learners’) work for the year. Some of us need these results for our children's new schools in 2023. And I am no closer to any answers.”
Another parent, Irene Thomas, from Pretoria, said she enrolled her son with SEAT in April for the 2023 academic year
“This is disgusting service. In fact, I received no service from these guys. They are quick to take your money and then you don't hear back from them. They refused outright to give me a refund.
“At first, I couldn't get through, they neither respondes to my Whatsapp messages nor returned my calls.Then, when I posted on social media I got a call from the academy, who straight out told me that they will not help me now, just because I went to social media.
“I spoke with Davids who is supposed to be their ops manager, this was also an unfruitful conversation.”
Thomas said she chose to enrol her son with the academy after a recommendation but would not recommend them to anyone after her experience.
“The person I was recommended by, all three of her kids attended the academy without any problems, now all of a sudden there’s this disgusting, unprofessional service, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
“Save yourself a lot of stress and stay clear of these people.”
Parent Esmerelda Myburgh responded to a video link the academy posted on Facebook saying that her son went from a flourishing learner in a mainstream school to being scared and anxious.
“No matter how much he put in and how well he performed he had no report or simply just 0 for work he submitted.
“We still have no answers, none of us. No parent who had a bad review or concern has been answered by any SEAT Academy staff member.”
Davids explained that at times the academy’s messages may not provide full clarity on the home-schooling concept they offered for Grade R to 9.
“These phases require more involvement from the parents with regards to the learner's education.
“Having said this, we do understand and acknowledge that the CAPS curriculum is quite difficult to run as well as learn on an online platform. Which is why we have looked at various means to accelerate and ease the learning process.”
Davids said their company has been under financial strain, given that they have a low tuition fee and do not receive any external funding, which ultimately resulted in the resignation of tutors.
“This has led to our staff being unable to receive their full salaries. It has also led us to resort to issuing staggered payments as an attempt to ensure that everyone is paid.”
She said the mass exit of tutors resulted in the cancellation of classes.
“This is negatively affecting our learners. We empathise with the staff as we understand the need to fulfil basic needs.”
Regarding parents marking scripts, Davids said the department of education only required learners to do a full qualified assessment at the end of each phase, Grade 3, 6 and 9.
“This exit assessment must be done by qualified assessors. During the year, parents can assist in marking scripts.
“No parents have access to the question papers nor memos, prior to assisting with the marking process. No parent assists without signing an indemnity form and once scripts are marked they are checked by our tutors.
“We have only considered this option so we can fast track the results process and issue the proper marks as soon as possible.”
She said while the academy was currently facing a lot of negativity online after making the acadmey’s financial situation known, some parents have offered to assist them.
Millicent Merton, a spokesperson for the Western Cape Department of Education, said the department does not recognise any service providers or maintain a database of such businesses.
“SEAT Academy is a service provider of a curriculum that parents purchase to be used for home education. Parents who do home education for their children may use any curriculum as long as it is not inferior to the CAPS.
“SEAT Academy is registered with the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI) as a Distance Learning Centre for Grade 10-12.
“Parents may approach SACAI with their concerns.”
SACAI informed Weekend Argus that while their institution only deals with 693 of SEAT’s learners in grades 10 to 12, they had received no complaints – be it individually or consolidated from parents.
Spokesperson for SACAI Christine Breet said the institute has 42 online institutions, providing a service as an assessment body for the three-year qualification of the NSC (Matric) that commences at grade 10.
“Online learning is effective and efficient if parents/learners are well resourced with the right IT equipment and if the modus operandi of the Online School supports learners and parents with 21st-century skills. This should be cemented by teaching and learning processes that are ethically conducted.”