1 500 pupils still to be placed
OVER 1 500 pupils in the Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts still need to be placed in schools for the 2018 academic year.
This is according to the Northern Cape Department of Education, which said it is working tirelessly to place pupils across the Province.
“Up to date, we have received a total of 20 646 pupil admissions applications in the Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts, where we are experiencing the highest pupil enrolment numbers. Included in this figure is a total of 2 572 late pupil admissions that were received after the closing date, which is in itself a significant number of pupils seeking placement,” said department spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe.
He added that they are currently seeking placements for entry grades.
“The department is busy finalising the pupil placements, including those who have submitted appeals to the Office of the MEC. We are experiencing a high enrolment volume in Grade R, Grade 1 and Grade 8. We have completed the promotion and progression of pupils and are determining how it will affect the pupil admissions at identified ‘hot spot’ schools.
“However, we must indicate that we are experiencing a challenge with regards to the placement of Grade Rs, especially in the Frances Baard district.
“We are encouraging Grade R parents to start looking for placement at early childhood development (ECD) community-based sites as we cannot guarantee placement at public schools.
“It is an unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in and we have therefore prioritised the construction of 56 classrooms and 36 ECD classrooms in the first quarter of 2018.
“We will provide the parents with an update on the status quo of pupil admissions before the 2018 school academic year commences.”
Van der Merwe said that the department is also facing a challenge of late applications.
“The department has already placed 19 127 pupils in schools in the Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts and is working tirelessly to place the outstanding 1 519 pupils.
“The chances of this outstanding number of pupils, who still need to be placed, increasing is highly possible before the reopening of schools in January 2018. We have therefore taken a decision to identify two central venues in Kimberley and Kuruman that will specifically deal with late applications.
“The district office in Frances Baard, situated in Kimberley in Hadison Park, and the John Taolo Gaetsewe district office, situated in Mothibistad at Baitiredi, will manage the late applications from January 15, from 8am until 4pm. All other schools outside Kimberley and Kuruman will manage their own late admissions starting on January 17, from 2pm until 4pm, to avoid disturbing valuable learning and teaching time,” Van der Merwe said.