Keystone Education insists it maintained registering pupils was the responsibility of parents and the company was merely a curriculum support service. File picture: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspaper
A private investigator hired by angry parents has joined their call on the Department of Education to shut down an online education service provider.
This comes in the wake of a recent IOL investigation revealing matriculants nationwide were unable to write their matric exams as they were not registered to do so.
The service provider, Keystone Education, has hit back at accusations from parents that it misled them into believing it would register learners with the Department of Education.
Instead, Keystone director, Stephen Russell, insists it always maintained this was the responsibility of parents and the company was merely a curriculum support service.
Russell reiterated earlier statements that his company had never claimed to be registered with the Department of Education — but had said it would try to assist with the registration of learners, but not guarantee it. This, added Russell, was left to the parents to ensure.
But, Brad Nathanson, the private investigator hired by over 15 affected parents has hit back.
“Stephen Russell was convicted in 2018 for fraud and was charged criminally in 2023 for allegedly taking money to enrol students but failing to do so. This is an ongoing investigation,” Nathanson told IOL.
“I now have parents contacting me daily desperately wanting some solution. The department cannot be a silent bystander in all this. They need to act to protect more learners from this,” he said.
“I've had to deal with parents whose children are now on suicide watch because they cannot cope with what's happened. They've wasted a whole year studying only to be told they are not registered to write matric.”
Nathanson added that following queries to Russell, he received a letter from Russell's attorneys instructing him not to communicate with his client any further.
Parents allegedly forked out over R12,000 per year to Keystone Education for online classes in addition to a further R2,100 to write the matric exams — but were left stunned when told their matriculants were not registered.
Approached for a response, Russell initially said parents would be refunded but later referred queries to his attorney who said the matter was now part of an investigation and his client's name will be cleared. He declined to comment any further.
The Department of Education has confirmed Keystone is not a registered education institution with the department and would only go as far as urging parents and learners to verify any businesses claiming to offer education online.
But, parents are demanding the department goes beyond that.
“We are speaking to the department to try and get our children to write matric next June,” one affected parent who did not want to be named told IOL.
“But be that as it may, they cannot allow this provider to continue and pass the responsibility to check and verify only on parents. There are far too many learners who are affected by this for the department to do nothing.”
IOL has also received a flood of complaints from more parents who came forward following our recent story on the matter. Some claim to have received confirmation from Keystone that learners would be registered to write their matric exams but this never materialised. Their stories are all of anguish, despair and financial heartache at having paid a fortune only to discover they were paying for what now appears to be tuition and curriculum support rather than a registered online school — which they had assumed Keystone to be.
IOL