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Curro Independent Schools

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Curro Independent Schools or Curro Holdings Limited (JSE: COH) is the largest and leading edu-business[1] in South Africa.[2] This independent schools holding company is committed to stewardship of the environment, being socially responsible[3] and following good governance principles.[4] The schools footprint is found across the South Africa's nine provinces,[5] and has been lauded by a business writer as an “educational juggernaut”.[6]

Corporate History

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Beginnings (1998-2011)

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The first Curro School was incorporated as a public company on 30 December 1998[7] by Dr Chris van der Merwe, who wanted to make private education affordable.[8] van der Merwe began teaching in a church vestry with 28 pupils, this was soon followed in 1999, with the construction of Curro Durbanville a privately owned campus in Durbanville.[9] By 2006, Curros enrollment numbers were almost 1000 and a second campus Curro Langebaan Private School was built.[10] Curro Hazeldean Private School was the third school, opened in 2008. 2010 was a busy year and three schools were built, including Curro Roodeplaat, who twice found themselves in a racial controversy. The other two schools were Curro Bankenveld High and Curro Serengeti Preschool. In 2011, Paladin Capital, a subsidiary of PSG Konsult, bought a 50% stake in Curro Holdings.[11]

Growth Phase

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In June 2011, when Curro Holdings was listed on the Alternative Exchange (AltX) of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange,[8] their stated intention was to have 40 schools and an enrollment of 45,000 by 2020.[12] In 2013, Curro moved into the post-school education environment and acquired Embury,[13] a private teacher education institution offering accredited teacher education qualifications. In 2015, the Gauteng Department of Education [14] found that a Curro School [15] was segregating grade classed based on race.[16] Curro Online was launched in 2020, in response to Covid 19.[17] By 2020, this for-profit education chain,[18] had just under 60,000 enrolled students, 175 schools, and 76 campuses.[19] On the 1 March, the PSG Group Ltd (JSE : PSG) sold off a 63.6% stake in Curro Holdings Limited (JSE : COH) for ZAR 5.1 billion.[20][21] In 2024, Curo Holding's ancillary revenue was up by 12%,[22] which improved their profits, despite lower enrollment numbers.[23] Of the estimated 2282 Independent Schools, Curro owns approximately seven percent of this exclusive market.[24] As of February 2025, Curro’s enrollment numbers were just over 72 000.[25]A set of economic imperatives had successfully permeated the private school culture and market forces had commodified independent schools[1]

Curro School Models

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The 1996 South African Schools Act aimed to create uniformity and recognized two types of schools, state schools and independent schools.[26] Curro Holdings have recognized the range of customers and offer them eight choices

  1. Curro Castles (nursery schools)
  2. Curro schools
  3. Curro Academy schools
  4. Curro Select schools
  5. Curro assisted-learning schools
  6. Curro DigiEd schools
  7. Curro private colleges
  8. Meridian schools

Globally, publicly listed Edu-schooling companies are not a common phenomenon,[27] but in South Africa they have become common as public education or state school continue to "fail".[28] Curro's intent is to make independent education more accessible. Curro holdings will either develop or acquires an independent school and then manage it. In the last few years, Curro have capitalized a range of different curriculum models.[29] The costs of developing new curriculum materials, subjects, and teaching methods are seen as intangible assets, since this content is sold separately.[29]

Breach of contract

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Curro may have set a legal precedent. in the case of and Another v Curro Holdings Ltd t/a Curro Academy Soshanguve and other (39189/2021) [2021] ZAGPPHC 498 (12 August 2021).[30] The non-payment of Private School fees is a breach of contract and parents have to remove the child from school.[31] The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (ISASA) held a different perspective who argued that any enrolment contract must first consider the bests interest of the child.[30]

References

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  1. ^ a b Valkonen, Satu; and Brunila, Kristiina (2024). "The whirlpool of edu-business: student's categorical judgements of entangled commercialism in an educational context". Pedagogy, Culture & Society. 0: 1–18. doi:10.1080/14681366.2024.2362961. ISSN 1468-1366. {{cite journal}}: |first2= missing |last2= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Curro's private university business lists on the JSE". Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  3. ^ "Curro Holdings Limited | Investment Banking". Investec. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  4. ^ https://www.curro.co.za/media/qhuinzzb/curro-king-iv-register-2022.pdf
  5. ^ "Curro Holdings Limited v The Independent School Business of Heronbridge College and Another (LM010Apr21) [2021] ZACT 67 (22 September 2021)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  6. ^ "MARC HASENFUSS: In praise of education juggernaut Curro". BusinessLIVE. Archived from the original on 2021-08-12. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  7. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20221020050714/https://psggroup.co.za/wp-content/themes/bones/library/reports/PSG_Prospectus_8795_FINAL_13Oct_1700_NN_WEB.pdf
  8. ^ a b "The man who founded South Africa's largest private school business".
  9. ^ "The man who founded South Africa's largest private school business". Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  10. ^ https://www.curro.co.za/media/3ksdvqil/curro-annual-integrated-report-2013.pdf
  11. ^ "Anthony Clark's interesting mid-cap stock pick".
  12. ^ "Curro reaches campus goal five years early". 17 February 2015.
  13. ^ "Embury Institute - FundiConnect".
  14. ^ "Op-Ed: Curro School scandal – when Government does its job well". 17 May 2015.
  15. ^ https://nicspaull.com/2015/01/29/curro-private-school-assigns-kids-to-classes-based-on-race-wtf/
  16. ^ "The Curro 'segregation' scandal: The report to the GDE - POLITICS | Politicsweb".
  17. ^ Mungadze, Samuel (2020-08-24). "Curro Online gains traction as virtual learning takes off". ITWeb. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  18. ^ "Grading South African school stocks - CNBC Africa". www.cnbcafrica.com. 2024-09-05. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  19. ^ Hogg, Alec (2020-09-14). "Fix Curro with a lesson on management metrics – Black". BizNews. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  20. ^ https://www.businesslive.co.za/sens/414192/
  21. ^ MarketScreener (2022-03-01). "PSG Group Ltd (JSE : PSG) agreed to Spin-Off 63.6% stake in Curro Holdings Limited. | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  22. ^ "Four private schools in South Africa in trouble".
  23. ^ Koteli, Tshehla Cornelius (2025-03-06). "Curro records profit, despite low enrolment: Here is how much they made from school fees". The Citizen. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  24. ^ "School Realities 2022" (PDF). South African Department of Basic Education. December 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  25. ^ https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/companies-and-deals/curro-sees-slowdown-in-new-enrolments-despite-successes/
  26. ^ Pillay, Claudia. "Curro, Reddam House and more - the rise of private schools in South Africa". Truelove. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  27. ^ du Toit, K; Bolton, J (2021). Characteristics that influence the share prices of listed schools in South Africa conference=International Conference in Accounting and Business. hdl:10210/484140. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  28. ^ "South African Education Stocks Boom as State Schools 'Fail'". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-12. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  29. ^ a b https://www.listcorp.com/jse/coh/curro-holdings-limited/news/annual-financial-statements-for-the-year-ended-31-december-2024-3163116.html
  30. ^ a b https://www.isasa.org/resources/Moabela-v-Curro-Holdings.pdf
  31. ^ https://www.ceebee.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CeeBee-Jan-2023-Private.pdf
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