MBOMBELA – Many parents were puzzled and blamed the principals when their children were not admitted to a number of schools in the province.
Other learners were turned away, just a few days after the reopening of schools, most, allegedly because they didn’t have the necessary documents including birth certificates.
A Swazi-born widow was stranded after her six-year-old twins were turned away from a school in KaNyamazane She was customarily married to a South African husband and, according to her, she and her now late husband registered their marriage at Daantjie Tribal Kraal in 2009.
She was confused after her twins were told not to come back because they didn’t have birth certificates. “I was called by the grade R teacher who informed me that the kids should not come back to school because they don’t have birth certificates,” said the mother who couldn’t be named so as to protect the identity of her children.
According to her, she and her late husband and in-laws went to home affairs several times for the children’s birth certificates, but all their efforts were to no avail as the department declined them.
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Last week she was apparently told to acquire study permits from Swaziland for her children.
“I’m puzzled and don’t know what to do because I was traditionally married, my husband died in 2013 and my mother-in-law was willing to register the children as a foster parent and now they are expelled from school. What do I do now?” she asked.
Mpumalanga News learnt that besides foreign learners with no birth certificates, some were South Africans, who either lived with their grandparents following the death of their mothers or both parents. Some of the children with no birth certificates were either born out of wedlock, with some of their mothers neglecting them and leave them in the care of their biological fathers.
Mr Jasper Zwane, spokesperson for education said it was a prerequisite from the South African Schools Act for learners to submit all necessary documents to schools for their admission purposes. “Birth certificates and immunisation cards are a necessity for first-time learners, transfer cards or reports from previous school for learners who are changing school must be submitted to their new schools while study permits must be submitted to schools by learners from countries outside the country,” he said.
Zwane added that parents could be given a leniency period of three months to submit the necessary documents to school. Failure to do so would result in the deregistering of learners. “It is key now that pupils submit all necessary documents mostly because we have registered our pupils through the SA Sense Programme to trace the learner’s attendance and we are accountable for anything that may happen to them,” he said.
He also called on officials and principals to adhere to the rules as stipulated in the directives. He urged parents to hence play their part and submit all necessary documents to schools.
