Parent frustration mounts over school placements
The online registration system appears to be causing confusion for Springs parents.
“Online registration must fall!” was the resounding cry of the day.
Parents queuing at the Department of Education’s Gauteng East district office in Springs last week were furious with the department over school placements for their children.
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Many of the parents blamed the new online application system for the delays and problems regarding placements.
“I registered online and submitted the necessary documents, but when I went to the school, they said I must come to the district office,” says parent Thandi Dubula.
Other parents raised similar concerns.
“There was no record of my application and the school told me to come here,” says Ntombenhle Khumalo.
“I don’t know when we will find out which school we’re going to.
“The children are frustrated because they don’t know which school they are going to.”
“I applied in June last year but when I got to the school they said I wasn’t accepted,” says Thandi Masuku.
“They never sent me a response telling me that.
“I even turned down another school because I thought my child had been accepted.”
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The online application system, which was launched in Gauteng last year, is also causing problems for parents transferring from other provinces.
“In KwaZulu-Natal, you just go directly to the school and you apply there,” says Vishal Rabbinen.
“This is my second day in this queue and I still don’t have answers.”
The biggest criticism of the department by furious parents was that the new online system is expensive because of the high cost of data, and not all parents are computer literate.
Furthermore, the online system appears to have taken away the autonomy of the schools.
Freddie Schutze, parent of a Grade One child, was frustrated when he went to Protea School to secure a place for his youngest child and was told to come to the district office.
“My other two children are already at Protea and I wanted to put my youngest there as well,” says Schutze.
“The school said I must come to the district office and they will automatically place him there.
“It would have been easier if the school could just do it.”
According to Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, when school opened last Wednesday there were more than 28 000 children in Gauteng who still needed to be placed in schools during the first week of the new school year.
It is unclear how many of these learners are from Springs, as the Department of Education failed to respond to numerous queries in time for publication.
