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It is the Intercultural Folk High School in Bergsjön. This summer, the Folkbildningsrådet, which distributes the scholarships, started a review of the school.
– We had received information from complainants that all was not well, says Rebecka Svensén, communications manager of the city council.
Great investment in Tunisia
Now the review is complete. According to the Folkbildningsrådet, it shows “a corrupt act between some important people in the popular high school”. Therefore, all government grants are deducted and the school must pay SEK 3.9 million.
The strongest criticism is that the school has invested 2.8 million SEK in an interrupted school project in Tunisia.
READ MORE: The pandemic is financially affecting popular high schools
According to the auditors’ report, the project employed the real half of a person in the main circle of the school with an annual salary of 704,000 SEK. At the same time, a company, which was owned by two people at the management, received 600,000 SEK a year in compensation. According to the auditors, there is no account or documentation of what has actually been done. The transactions “appear to be very favorable to those involved,” Folkbildningsrådet writes.
The Council suspects that state money has been used in the Tunisian project. In that case, it is not allowed.
– Government grants will go to public education in Sweden, says Rebecka Svensén.
Handed over to the police
The criticism also applies to the low density of teachers, the generous severance pay, and the fact that a small number of people fill many roles, such as employees, board members, and consultants.
Folkbildningsrådet will hand over the documents to the police. They will also be in contact with other popular high schools in the region to organize places for the students of the intercultural popular high school.
– The decision means in practice that the popular high school can close. We cannot act stronger. The police must decide if what happened is criminal, says Rebecka Svensén.
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When GP calls Intercultural Folk High School, we have a group conversation with several people at the school’s management. They confirm two facts: that the Tunis project has cost around SEK 2.8 million and that the withdrawn state subsidies probably entail closure.
“All your arguments fall”
Otherwise, they reject most of the criticism. They say the money that was invested in Tunisia came entirely from the school’s SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) teaching, which is funded by the city of Gothenburg.
– The whole investigation is about irrationality. We all have numbers in a separate report that show all of their arguments fall, says former director Keith Palmrot.
– Of course we have deficiencies and we have not tried that either. But there are no shortcomings that cannot be remedied. Our separate report will now be reviewed again by Ernst & Young, it continues.
Why should a Swedish folk institute have a business in Tunisia?
– It is an educational project. Why shouldn’t we do business in Tunisia? There are probably many popular high schools running in different countries, says acting rector Johan Karlborg.
“A feather in the hat”
The school management believes that Folkbildningsrådet’s decision stems from the fact that the council has been criticized for poor control in other contexts.
– It is not the case that the money has disappeared and someone has been shot for this. It is about Folkbildningsrådet who wants to get a feather in his cap showing the muscles towards a small organization. We have to accept the slap, says the chairman of the board, Toni Hagert.
Roman high school
Intercultural Folk High School, formerly Agnesberg Folk High School, is a popular Roma high school.
It was administered by the Västra Götaland region until 2016. Today, the Western Romani Education Association is behind it.
According to the leadership, it has around 300 students, of which around 140 attend SFI and around 160 attend general courses at the popular high school.
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