Unplaced pupils matter taken to Constitutional Court

THE ANC in the Western Cape and Parents for Equal Education SA (Peesa) have vowed to support parents who have dragged the provincial education department to the Constitutional Court over unplaced learners.

This comes as some children in the illegal school sites, Forest Village in Eerste River and Rosendal House in Mfuleni, are yet to step inside a classroom since the academic year started while others have just been placed.

ANC education spokesperson Khalid Sayed said the party and Peesa would be supporting the affected parents with legal fees and supporting affidavits to compel the department to address the serious psycho-social consequences suffered by learners who have been unplaced for more than a school term.

“This situation in the province lasts well into the middle of the academic year. Some learners don’t even make it to the classroom for a whole academic year. Many activists have spoken up against this injustice while the department and MEC Debbie Schäfer have shrugged their shoulders, and our learners suffer.”

Sayed said there was no political will from the department to provide quality education to poor and vulnerable communities.

“Visiting these communities daily, we knew that everything they spin in the public domain is blatant lies. While we are dealing with a deadly pandemic, children from the Forest Village community were forced to sit under a tree, volunteer teachers assisted, with no ablution facilities, no running water. Not once did the MEC rush to hear the community’s plea in the same manner she rushed to Brackenfell,” he said.

According to Sayed, more than 1 900 unplaced learners occupy the Rosendal Technical College as all the surrounding schools are full. “They have had engagements with both the Forest Village community and Mfuleni parents. We believe the real number of unplaced learners from just two communities is over 2 500.”

Peesa founder Vanessa le Roux said it was time the department was held accountable.

Schäfer’s spokesperson, Kerry Mauchline, said the department has made placement offers to all learners in their system that still need places, but to date, the department is still receiving new applications from parents for the current school year.

“There are 336 learners associated with the illegal site in Forest Village, contrary to claims. Many were already registered and (are) attending schools. All of the unplaced learners at the site have been offered a place in a school, the district is now verifying which learners have already started attending their allocated schools.”

Mauchline said details of the

1 134 learners at Rosendal were withheld from the department for nearly two months, preventing the learners from being placed.

She said an agreement was reached on May 21 to allow the department to proceed with placement.

Schäfer said the department will study the papers before making further comments.