Children allegedly made to perform in TikTok, YouTube videos to ‘work off’ school fees at Gauteng school

Gauteng education department investigates Christian school. A Gauteng Christian school is under fire after claims it made pupils “work off” their school fees by spending long hours filming singing and dancing videos for TikTok and YouTube. Some of the videos posted byChristian Progressive Collegehave pulled in hundreds of thousands — in some instances even millions — of views.

But those clips had allegedly not been posted just for fun. If a new contract bearing the name of the Pretoria-based school is anything to go by, parents had to sign away certain rights when their artistically talented children received a “bursary” to attend the school. These rights included the school having full control of the child for a minimum of five years.

During that time, the child would have to record music and create dance videos, with as much as 90% of the money earned going to the school until the bursary amount had been paid back. IOLobtained a copy of the contract from a staff member. And while such an agreement does exist, it remains unclear who drafted it, as no one has taken ownership of the document.

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The school has also allegedly distanced itself from it, with claims that a staff member drafted it without approval. Claims that the school was not registered appeared to be unfounded, as basic education department sources confirmed it had been registered under the name “Christian Progressive”. Are children being exploited? Gauteng school faces investigation over contract issues.

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