BACK TO SCHOOL
At least 1,000 embattled learners still struggling to find placements in Eastern Cape schools
The provincial education department said the number of learners waiting for placements was increasing due to family relocations.
As the first day of the 2024 academic year in SA’s public schools kicked off on Wednesday, more than 1,000 learners were yet to be placed in the Eastern Cape.
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the number of learners waiting for placements was increasing due to family relocations.
“The majority of parents [still looking for placements] are those who insist on schools of choice,” Mtima said.
He said there were more than enough places for learners in the province’s classrooms but the department had to respect the parents’ preferences.
Mtima said 1,809,339 learners in grades R to 12 had been placed in schools in Eastern Cape — an increase of more than 8,000 learners over the 2023 enrolment.
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Western Cape
The province’s education spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond, said 99.43% of grade 1 and 8 learners had been allocated places before schools closed on 12 December 2023.
“However, since that date, and while schools have been closed for the holidays, we have received new applications for learners whose parents had not previously applied, and we anticipate receiving many more in the coming weeks,” Hammond said.
She said they had received 609 new, extremely late applications in the first 10 days of this month.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘Massive improvement’ in school placement, says Western Cape Education Department
Hammond said placement was in progress for 2,636 grade 1 and 8 learners.
The next key date in the admissions calendar, she said, is the 10-day Snap Survey of Ordinary Schools, which helps the province administer and govern schools and determine resource needs.
The survey, she said, would indicate where there are still spaces available for learners and it would allow the education department to allocate resources to accommodate the extremely late applications.
“We have placed more learners this year, compared to the same time last year. However, the 10-day Snap Survey will provide more accurate information on admission numbers. In the past five years, our system grew on average by 19,000 learners each year.”
Hammond said they receive thousands of applications from other provinces, particularly Eastern Cape.
“The rural districts have space to accommodate learners. Demand is mainly in the metro regions,” she said.
Mpumalanga
Education MEC Bonakele Majuba said on 9 January that they were encouraged that a huge number of learners had already been admitted to schools.
“Every effort was made by the department to ensure that learners of school-going age are admitted in schools within the province in keeping to our country’s constitutional mandate,” Majuba said.
Admission committees, he said, were established in each district and were facilitating admissions and working with principals, school governing bodies and parents.
“So far, we are pleased with the levels of cooperation between parents and schools and we wish that this must continue up to a point where every child of school-going age is in class, learning,” he said.
However, Majuba said, there were still learners waiting for placements, especially in the fast-growing towns of Emalahleni, Ermelo, Mbombela, Mashishing, Steve Tshwete and Secunda.
“The department is making the necessary interventions in this regard to ensure that a process of admitting these learners is accelerated.”
In Emalahleni, he said, the department would make use of Mokibe Primary School and Siyanqoba Primary and Secondary School.
Mokibe Primary School had been temporarily housed at Bonginsimbi Technical High School and was moving to a new location.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Census reveals 5.2m children of school-going age aren’t receiving education
Majuba thanked the Emalahleni Local Municipality for assisting in the successful relocation of Mokibe Primary School.
“There are also a number of interventions that are being made in other areas to ensure that learners are in class learning,” he said. DM
After living abroad for 25 years, I returned to SA in 2008, I think possibly the worst time to have done so, because soon after that Mbeki was ‘recalled’ and the Zuma/Ramaphosa circus was about to start. Angie Motsekha was made minister of basic education, and I think Blade Nzamandi already was minister for higher education. Both are still in post 15 years later, and nothing has changed. Angie at least got the gap between her front teeth sorted out and got some better wigs. Nzamandi is embroiled in a corruption scandal, which he of course denies. Ever since I returned to SA in 2008, the same scenes have repeated themselves year after year after year. Pupils not being placed at schools in time, missing textbooks etc. Soon, the academic year for tertiary education will kick off. What can we expect? Violent demonstrations and violence at universities because of some grievance or other. To keep bringing in fresh ideas, no minister should be in the same position for more than five years max. We see the destruction it causes in real time. Neither minister is competent and should have been removed years ago, yet there they are, messing up education for a majority of South Africans.