54 000 pupils not placed in schools yet

Chisom Jenniffer Okoye

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in Gauteng has lambasted the education MEC Panyaza Lesufi for the fact that 54 000 pupils have not yet received placements in schools ahead of the deadline on October 31, saying he has handled the issue with “a lack of seriousness and urgency”.

This comes after the department of education released a statement on Monday revealing that 19.37% of the pupils who applied for placements into Grade 1 and Grade 8 were still on the waiting list.

Education department spokesperson Steve Mabona urged parents whose children were not placed yet to submit any relevant documents which might be holding back their applications and placements.

“The department is working tirelessly to ensure all unplaced pupils who applied during the application period are placed… We appeal to parents not to despair as we are working around the clock to ensure that all pupils are placed.”

However, Gauteng IFP spokesperson Musa Ngobeni expressed concern that the department “took this long to realise the gravity of the situation and finally begin to communicate with parents ... even though fully aware of this backlog at an earlier time”.

While the party acknowledged the part parents had to play in ensuring their children got placed, the department was equally responsible for not ensuring parents were actively engaged and registering the pupils on time, said Ngobeni.

“The education department has dealt with this matter with a clear lack of seriousness and urgency ... if the department was serious it would not have left this matter until the 11th hour.

“MEC Lesufi would do well to table a plan on how the department plans to place all these pupils by the end of the month when it could not do so in over six months as applications were open as early as April.

“It shouldn’t take more than three months for pupils to know their fate and start preparing accordingly. The department must review its online application system and identify challenges to correct these before it becomes a crisis in January.”

Mabona said the “insinuation” that the department is managing online admissions with lack of seriousness and urgency does not make sense.

“In 2017 during the same period, we actually had more learners unplaced. This year, in 2018 we actually recorded a lesser figure improvement,” he said.

“Out of over 54 000 unplaced learners, over 34 000 parents did not submit documentation, hence we encourage them to urgently submit for necessary placement accordingly.”