Matrics in crisis — how online learning institution Keystone Education left a trail of trauma

7 Nov 2024

Parents of matrics using the KwaZulu-Natal-based online education provider Keystone Education have been left in a panic upon finding out that their children were not registered for the National Senior Certificate examinations – despite alleged assurances from the company’s director that they would be. The case reveals a major regulation gap in South Africa’s schooling landscape.

Parents of matric learners studying through the online education provider Keystone Education have been left in a desperate situation after finding out that their children were not registered for the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, despite alleged assurances from the director of the institution that the learners would be able to write.

Keystone Education markets itself as a “personalised distance learning organisation and curriculum provider to South African families looking for alternative education solutions for their children”, with material that is “fully compliant with the South African curriculum standards (CAPS)” for learners from Grades R to 12.

However, chief director at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (DoE) Dr Raymond Penniston confirmed that Keystone Education was not registered with the department, and did not have an Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) number, which is a prerequisite to be a registered centre.

Candice Greenblatt, a parent of a matric learner at Keystone Education, told Daily Maverick that it had been a “very traumatic time”, not only for the learners, but also their parents.

“You have parents dealing with children having panic attacks and rushing their kids to hospital… You have children wanting to hurt themselves. I mean, it’s not fair. Parents are there to help their kids but with this, it’s kind of like you failed your child as well,” she said.

Matrics in crisis

According to Greenblatt, in March of this year the director of Keystone Education, Stephen Russell, sent the parents of matric learners documents – purportedly from the DoE – that they needed to fill out to register their children for the NSC exams.

“We sent the documentation back to him and on 25 March, we got a statement with an exam registration fee of R2,100, which is R300 per subject… We paid that R2,100 over to him on the same day,” said Greenblatt.

Both Greenblatt and another matric parent, Melody Trevarthen, reported that they checked in with Russell multiple times in the months after they submitted the registration forms for the NSC exams. Each time, he allegedly reassured them that everything was on track for their children to write at the end of the year.

However, on 9 October, Greenblatt received an email from Russell stating that her son was not registered for the exams and that it had been the parents’ responsibility to handle the registration process. She said that when she phoned him about the situation, he claimed that half of the matrics at Keystone Education had been successfully registered for the final exams.

“That’s when I started a WhatsApp group and I started contacting parents, and until today, I haven’t found one parent whose child is registered or can write [the NSC exams],” said Greenblatt.

According to Trevarthen, Russell stopped taking her calls on 8 October, shortly after she discovered her son was not on the list of learners registered to write the NSC exams at a local school.

Both Greenblatt and Trevarthen are among 15 parents with matric learners at Keystone Education who have approached private investigator Brad Nathanson to build a case against Russell. Since he started looking into the online education provider, Nathanson said he had been inundated with similar complaints from parents of past and present learners.

“Some of the stories that I have had to read from parents are so horrible – parents feeling like they’ve failed their children, children on suicide watch, children that feel useless and they’ve lost all faith. I mean, these are kids at a … pivotal time of their lives,” said Nathanson.

“I’ve had moms phone me and do nothing but cry... on the phone for half an hour before I can get any sense out of them because they are so broken by what this man has done.”

Missing education records

The problems at Keystone Education go beyond matric exam registration. Greenblatt told Daily Maverick that Keystone Education had failed to register learners’ education records with the DoE. Learners who have been with the education provider for several years have no official record of attending school during that time.

“[Russell] scammed us all. I paid him R27,000 over the period for school fees. He has never registered any of the children at DoE,” claimed Trevarthen in a letter to the South African Council for Educators, which she shared with Daily Maverick.

As a result, Trevarthen’s son has no record of schooling beyond Grade 9.

“[Russell] has ruined all our children’s lives. He is as slippery as an eel. I am grasping at straws as this whole issue means that all the hard work my son put in means nothing. My son was not ever registered at DOE and his progression and reports were never submitted to the department,” said Trevarthen.

Russell founded Keystone Education in 2020, seemingly taking advantage of the wave of parents looking at online alternatives to mainstream schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reflecting on why parents trusted Russell, Greenblatt said, “When you talk to somebody and they’re giving you all the information, and they know what they’re talking about, it seems like you’re okay. It’s not like he’s a small institute… He’s got children from grade R and he’s got 40 to 50 grade 12s.”

She added, “[Russell] doesn’t think about … the emotional effect. Lots of these children are also homeschooled or at an online school because they have problems in a normal school – either they don’t fit in or they get bullied, or something happened in their life that… [means] they don’t function properly amongst other children… That’s why we have these things to help these kids, but now these kids that need that little bit of help are all sitting ... and not knowing what to do.”

Report cards issued to parents by Keystone Education in 2022 – shared with Daily Maverick by Nathanson – show a registration and accreditation number for the institution at the bottom, alongside what appears to be an Umalusi accreditation number. Umalusi is the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training.

Umalusi spokesperson Biki Lepota has confirmed that Keystone Education fraudulently used an Umalusi accreditation number to lend legitimacy to its operations.

Lepota said Umalusi had lodged a criminal case against Keystone Education in 2023, with the charge of using a fraudulent accreditation certificate.

History of complaints

It is not the first time Keystone Education has been the subject of a criminal complaint. In mid-2023, a cohort of about 500 parents lodged a case against the education provider with the South African Police Service (SAPS), according to a parent of a former learner who chose to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety. The parent told Daily Maverick they had received anonymous threats shortly after speaking out about the allegedly illegitimate operations at Keystone Education last year.

According to the parent, they reported Keystone Education to the police after contacting the KwaZulu-Natal DoE and discovering the education provider was unregistered. The parent said they had seen no progress in the case.

“I’m furious that the school’s still running,” said the parent. “I think [Russell] had fooled everyone because he’s an extremely smooth talker. He’s a narcissist. He’s the best one you will ever meet … but I also think the department [of education] should have acted faster… Something more drastic should have happened to prevent 2024 matriculants not being able to write.”

Penniston confirmed that the problems surrounding Keystone Education were reported to KZN DoE by concerned parents in 2023.

Daily Maverick asked the SAPS about the status of the investigation against Keystone Education but had not received a response at the time of publishing.

Regulation gap

According to Elijah Mhlanga, spokesperson for the national DoE, online schools are not regulated; there is no legislation governing such institutions; and the department has “no jurisdiction” over them.

Mhlanga said the department was developing a framework for online schools, but that there were “complications on a number of levels”.

“There are thousands of organisations that claim to offer curriculum content support, etc. The onus is on the parents to ascertain what these organisations are. Are they schools? If so, is it registered? If yes, who are they affiliated with in order to handle examinations and assessments? It’s important to be extra cautious about these organisations,” said Mhlanga.

When asked about the options available to learners at Keystone Education whose schooling had not been recorded with the DOE, Mhlanga said, “The question is whether the parents notified the education department when they removed their children from our schools… There was a requirement for registration with Home Education when parents removed their children from normal schools. We did warn the public about this matter during Covid – that parents needed to take care when deciding to remove their children from normal school.”

Penniston said that parents of affected learners could approach the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute, or registered and legitimate online institutions, for possible further education.

When contacted, Russell referred Daily Maverick to his lawyer, Wesley Rogers, for a response to questions regarding the claims against him and Keystone Education.

Rogers said, “The matter has been escalated to SAPS for investigation and is deemed sub judice, for that reason we aren’t able to engage with the merits of these allegations which will be dealt with in the appropriate forum, suffice to say, that Mr Russell denies wrongdoing and has provided my office with evidence that suggests he has a valid defence to the allegations [sic]. He has engaged with SAPS as required.” DM

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Maverick Citizen

Matrics in crisis

Missing education records

History of complaints

Regulation gap