Measures ready to school unplaced children
Several protocols exist to place the roughly 20 000 pupils not currently enrolled in schools in Gauteng.
According to Oupa Bodibe, chief of staff at the office of the MEC for the department of basic education, most of these pupils are starting Grade One or Grade Eight this year.
He said the first method used to accommodate unplaced children, is asking each school to take five extra applicants within their feeder area (5km radius from school).
If there are still unplaced children, public transport has to be organised to take these children to schools outside their areas.
“Then, the third step, which is taken in the worst case scenario, is to request some primary schools to add a Grade Eight class, to be taught by extra teachers,” said Bodibe.
He added that mobile and temporary classrooms can also be brought in to alleviate the pressure at schools.
Bodibe said children were already being placed on January 18, but that the department would have a clearer picture of the numbers of unplaced children in Gauteng by January 25.
He added that the goal was to have all children placed at schools by the end of January.
Bodibe said parents with unplaced children can go to the district offices of the department of education, where they can ask to be placed.
Have one or more of your children not been placed in schools yet?
Send us an email at erikd@caxton.co.za.
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