“We woke up during the early hours of the morning to ensure that we were the first people in line during the application process. All those efforts, however, did not help ...”

WHILE the Northern Cape Department of Education indicated that it is ready for the 2018 academic year, many Kimberley parents have said that they are still awaiting feedback from the department on the outcome of their appeals after their pupil admission applications were rejected.

The parents said that they had appealed at the Office of the Education MEC in August this year and were assured that they would be informed on the outcome of their appeals.

“We were advised to apply for admission at various high schools in order to better our chances of being accepted at one of the schools. We then applied to the schools closest to us as one of the selection criteria was that the pupil had stay in close in proximity to the school. We followed all instructions and applied timeously.

“We woke up during the early hours of the morning to ensure that we were the first people in line during the application process. All those efforts, however, did not help as all applications were rejected.

“We went to appeal as soon as possible and were amongst the first 10 people to appeal. Our daughter however does not have any indication which high school she will attend,” said one frustrated parent.

Another parent said that she is also still awaiting feedback regarding which school her child would attend for Grade 8.

“We also appealed after we were rejected by three high schools. The people at the Office of the MEC told me that they will let us know the outcome. Last week we read a newspaper article where the department stated that they will let parents know the outcome by the end of November. Still we had no news … none of the parents who have appealed have received any news on the outcome.

“I phone every second day and am told that the process is still being sorted out. If they are in the process, how come nobody has heard anything. Surely there should be someone who has gotten news by now?”

“How long must we still wait ... the year is already at its end?” asked another parent.

The parents accused the department of not taking the needs of the children into consideration.

“The department should be honest with us. We have been waiting patiently all this time. In January there will be a bigger problem as there will be hundreds of pupils who do not have schools to attend. What are we supposed to do with our children next year?”