Pupils on school database cut by half
Education authorities implement thorough verification system
THE Eastern Cape department of education has reduced by more than 50% the number of pupils who do not have identity documents (IDs) and those with incorrect information on their IDs but are registered in the department’s database.
Speaking at the Mzomhle High School’s 50th anniversary celebrations this week education, Education MEC Mandla Makupula revealed that the department worked tirelessly to reduce the number of unregistered pupils from 536 000 to 117 000 this year.
Among the incorrect information submitted to the department was that of a Grade 8 pupil who was said to be 115 years old, Makupula said. “There has been a tendency of negligence among schools whereby they collect random identification documents and attribute the (information) to a child.”
He said schools did this, so as to submit the information to the department in order for them to qualify for funding.
The significant decrease was attributed to the department’s identification verification campaign launched earlier this year in schools.
“It was alarming when we discovered that more than half a million children placed in our schools didn’t have identity documentation, as this is the first documentation we expect parents to produce when enrolling their children at schools.”
Referring to the case of the Grade 8 pupil, Makupula questioned how an error of this nature could surpass teachers, admin clerks and principals at a school.
“We have had a lot of similar cases particular in King William’s Town and Butterworth and these cases can be rectified when there is parental involvement,” he said.
Makupula added that many children also struggled to get the correct qualification in matric because they either did not have an ID in matric, or may have used one that is incorrect.
“A verification campaign has been under way to clean up the backlog and to keep our systems up to date and we understand that although the ID of a learner may not be available, it doesn’t mean that the learner is not at the school, so we continue to provide funding for the pupils nutrition programme to enable them to eat while at the school.”
Makupula urged parents to supply documentation when enrolling a child to a school and to interact with teachers to ensure that documents had correct information in a bid to minimise corruption and to ensure no ID was duplicated.
East London district director Sihle Mnguni confirmed that his district was affected and said he had issued a statement to all schools to assist pupils with acquiring correct identify information.
“I can’t single out a school because it would give the impression that that particular school is the only one affected, but the reality is, every school has at least an issue when it comes to birth certificates or identity documents.
“While others may have an incorrect sex, incorrect names, it is common to find incorrect ages.”
Provincial Home Affairs manager Gcinile Mabulu said his department had brought the matter to the education department in line with their mandate to register the national population.
“We are working closely with schools to ensure that we clear the backlog and have correct identification for every learner, while some may have never been registered by their parents from the onset.”
Mabulu said the problem was among children aged from 31 days to 14 years, who were not registered by parents.