WITH some children not placed in their respective schools, Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi sympathises with the parents of these children.
He said this in a media briefing on January 14, where he gave an update on the admissions in public schools and state of readiness for the 2020 academic year.
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“This pain is unbearable, the frustration has reached unbearable levels. I’ve assigned a team led by our HOD, the DDG, the chief director and the director that is working on this issue, this matter will be resolved.
“We have no other interest except the interest of your child being in the classroom. I can take the insults, I can take the frustrations, but there will be no child in Gauteng that needs accommodation that will not be accommodated.
“I want to put my head on the block that with everything we are doing, there’s no element of favouritism, corruption or undermining the stature of our people purely because we want to place children.
“We are not dumping children; we really believe in our schools. If they can be given a chance, parents will see these are good schools.
“But overall, I’m deeply sorry if I’ve placed parents in a situation where they are frustrated, in a situation that they feel this department or this government is not caring. I’m deeply sorry and this will be fixed,” he said.
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Admissions placement
The department received and processed about 700 appeals which were compounded by implementation of the new Admissions Regulations.
All appeals were carefully considered and fairly adjudicated.
The outcome of each appeal is based on compliance with Admissions Regulations and availability of space at schools.
The department’s challenge is capacity rather than the system, parents are reluctant to accept offered spaces for different reasons.
Unfortunately, the department can only accommodate a certain number of learners at their schools and as such call upon parents to accept placement offers as these are the only spaces available at some schools.
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Late applications
The department will from January 15 open the system for late online applications, and close on January 24. Only schools with capacity will be availed in the system during this period.
Applicants will provisionally be placed until they submit documents to the school accordingly. No objections or appeals will be entertained.
Based on the stats on the system the department has a total of 912 primary schools and 374 high schools with space available for late applications.
All districts are operating as walk-in centres to assist parents with applications from January 15 to 24.
