School placement process is torture
The real question is, does the government actually care? HOW IT UNFOLDS: FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS SPEEDILY, WAIT AND WAIT AND LOOK FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS
The government has vowed to find schools for the 14 000 children who are still unplaced by today. A guest writer shares her experience of finding a school for her son going into Grade 1.
Watching your child grow from a baby to a toddler at a pre-school is certainly a highlight in life. You see how much they develop from been a needy baby to become an independent little person. The next phase of “big school” comes so fast and as a parent you now have the mammoth task of choosing a school that will suit your child and fit in with your daily life. This is our story, sadly.
Big government announcement: School enrolment is now open. That morning driving to work, all I could think about was that hopefully the system would not crash before I had submitted my child’s information.
First thing I do when I get in is to log on and create an online profile. The system is slow and not doing what I need it to do fast enough. I then get my brother and his wife to log on and try from their respective computers in the hope that if mine crashes they can complete the application on my behalf.
I selected three schools in my area: one is 1.27km away, the second is another 5.4km and the last one is near my workplace.
The first two schools selected put us on the A list for acceptance because it’s in the relevant radius from our home (according to their system).
Fortunately, I was able to complete the application in a matter of minutes. Phew, I did it and on the first day the applications opened. Happy parent (well for now anyway).
On the same day my husband drops off all the required documents at the three schools we applied to as we didn’t want our application to be at the bottom of the barrel.
We received smses from the respective schools confirming that our documents had been received and verified. Yay, go us – process followed and completed on the same day applications opened.
Big government announcement: School placement will be confirmed by the end of August.
The end of August arrives and nothing, but an sms to say placement will happen mid-October to end October.
The wait continues. Mid October arrives – still no communication received. End October arrives and still no communication received.
My husband then goes to the district office (six times) only to be told every time there is nothing they can do and we must pray to God for a placement for our child.
We receive an sms at 2.30pm on the first Saturday of November saying: Dear parent, if you have not received an offer of placement for Grade 1 and Grade 8 child for admission 2020, please kindly visit your nearest district on Sunday November 3, 2019 from 9am to 4pm.
Off we go to the district on Sunday at 8.30 am. The queue is already winding around the building full of frustrated parents. Then we hear that the sms sent out on Saturday was incorrect!
We sat in the queue for three LONG hours only to be told that the schools we selected are not in our district (this was never told to us when applying as we were on the A list), are high pressure schools and are filled to capacity. So what does that mean for our child, we ask the lady who sits there with a smug look on her face. Your child will not get a place in those schools. These are the schools available to you.
Three options are then presented to us all of which are nowhere near where we stay or work. If you not happy fill out this dispute form and you will get a response in seven working days. This form is then added to the already high pile of forms.
What a waste of our morning. We leave feeling frustrated, irritated and angry. We have done everything the government has asked from us and still no school for our child – ARGGG!
On Tuesday, we received an sms saying that we must not go to the district office and they will communicate to us via sms on where our kid has been placed. After sitting there for three long hours as per the instruction – frustrated!
So what now? Panic. Desperation. Research private schools available in our area. Go directly to schools to see if they can place our kid.
It’s the end of the year and we still don’t know where our child has been or will be placed. Kids from other areas have been placed in schools in our feeder area, which in itself is sad and very unfair. Is this a fair way to treat already stressed out parents? NO.
Trust the system they say … every child will have a seat( in an already overcrowded class room).
We have decided to go with a private school not only because it was the only option but because the number of kids per class is small and our child can get the individual attention he needs for optimal learning.
We are very disappointed in the way the school placement process has been done. But the real question is, does the government actually care?