Parents in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, have been queuing outside the Ekurhuleni North District Office of the provincial education department in a bid to resolve their children’s school placement issues.
As many students started school in Gauteng on Wednesday, we spoke to parents outside the office who were upset that the department had enrolled their children in schools far away from where they were, while others were still waiting for their children to be placed.
Also read: 571 students in Gauteng have not been placed for grades one and eight
Parents camp and queue for a place
Cars, camping chairs, and umbrellas filled Howard Avenue as parents waited for hours, hoping for help from officials.
A mother from Daveyton, who asked not to be named, said the toddler was placed at Kempton Park Primary School, about 34 kilometers away. She said her son was not accepted at three of his preferred schools closer to home.
After several emails and phone calls to the Gauteng Department of Education, he was advised to accept the placement.
“They said just accept and then we will see after November 30 if there is a place in the school you applied for,” he said. When she found out her child had been placed at Kempton Park Primary, she went to the school to try and find affordable school transport, but to no avail.
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Undergraduate transportation accident
When we spoke to mom on Wednesday, she had been waiting for hours. They were not helped that day because loadshedding had disrupted service.
And Zikalala’s happiness GroundUp that his brother was placed in SMA Masibenge in Tembisa for 8th grade.
Zikalala said they live in Clayville and cannot afford the R50 per day transport costs to school. He said he had visited at least six schools this week without success and decided to come to the district office to ask for help.
“It would be better if they can cancel their applications online, so we can get into any school we want,” Zikalala said.
Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said they received 139,464 completed applications for grade 1, and 152,681 applications for grade 8 in 2022.
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Mabona said the department is still helping parents with incomplete online applications as well as students who are out of place. He said that 236 1st grade students and 1,158 8th grade students are still waiting to be placed in the school.
“The department has received 4,801 appeals stemming from rejected placements offered to applicants. We are working hard to resolve these appeals.
To address enrollment pressures and overcrowding, the Department transferred funds to 297 schools for more than 800 additional classrooms. The department said that one primary school and three new secondary schools will be opened this year to help reduce enrollment.
This article originally appeared on GroundUp and is republished with permission.
Read the original article here.