Parents line up for late registrations as schools open
IT’S BACK to school and back to reality for inland public school learners, but some parents are still struggling to get their children placed in schools.
Yesterday, the doors to learning were opened for primary and high school learners from inland provinces as the 2022 academic year kicked off.
While excited parents and siblings took to social media to post their bundles of joy’s first day of Grade 1 and Grade 8, there were unfortunately parents lined up at Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) district offices seeking placement for learners as late applications for Grades 1 and 8 opened.
Only schools with available space have been opened for late applications, and parents are able to apply online and upload documentation or hand-deliver hard copies to their school of choice. The GDE added that each parent may only apply for one school.
At the GDE offices on Simmonds Street in Johannesburg and the district offices in Sandton, parents stood in long, snaking lines trying to secure a place for their children.
“Who are the learners who have been placed in the schools in our area because our children are sitting at home? Our children have been placed far from our homes,” one angry parent said.
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who reopened the newly refurbished Setlabotjha Primary School in Emfuleni with Gauteng Premier David Makhura to mark the start of the 2022 academic year, provided an update on online admissions.
The MEC apologised to those parents whose children had not yet been placed and said that at the same time last year, almost 35 000 learners had not been placed.
“This year we are left with less than 700 learners who still need to be placed. The 35 000 that could not be placed last year were placed by the end of March and I want to assure parents that the 700 we need to place will be placed before the end of January,” he said.
Lesufi said the problem wasn’t insufficient places or schools but there were certain schools that parents preferred and the demand for these schools was too high.
“We are building schools in the townships, but there is this mentality that the township is bad and the former model C schools are better. The reality is that there is no school teacher that was trained differently and I’m proud of the quality of teachers we have,” the MEC said.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga, who was inspecting the reopening of schools in Randfontein, said in some instances parents applied for schools and their children were admitted but they didn’t show up.
“We want parents to be patient with us and allow us today and tomorrow to see if we can find spots (to place learners),” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League in Johannesburg has warned Lesufi that it will identify private schools and enrol the thousands of pupils who are unplaced in the province.
The ANCYL has threatened to force the private schools to send invoices for fees to Lesufi’s office.