Scramble for spaces will intensify until all schools are sufficiently equipped

In my school days it was not unusual to have a classmate whose parent was our teacher.

In our primary school in Mapetla, Soweto, (sadly one of the many schools shut down since for not having enough pupils), I remember two: Mrs Lekalakala and Mrs Makate.

They both taught me and their children in different classes. I guess they had no choice in the late ’70s, owing to the apartheid laws, but that is not today’s topic.

The scenes of last week, when children returned to school, was a mixed bag of my own memories – the downright hilarious and the heartbreaking.

Both played out in the media. Pictures of screaming children refusing to go to class, and their stories on social media, get funnier every January.

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One mother posted that her son returned from first day in “big school”, threw his school bag on the floor and declared: “Mama, I am done with school.”

But there’s nothing funny about desperate parents who have yet to secure places for their children.

In fact, it should count as one of the most stressful times for parents (albeit for a limited period).

We see them forming long queues outside district offices and the schools of their choice on the day when other children are in class.

It can take weeks… If you think it will just be a matter of applying online to five schools in the order of your liking and your child will be admitted, you will be in for a shock when it is time for your bundle of joy to go to Grade 1, or seven years later, when she hits high school.

Getting the school of your fancy is a massive headache for parents, especially if you are in a township and your preferred school is situated elsewhere, most probably in the suburbs.

When your home is in an area with a good school, it is easy for you to say “why not take your child to a school nearby”.

If you want to know, it is for the same reason that many teachers in the schools nearby take their children to better schools outside the township.

All parents want the best for their children, and a school with a good reputation, great teachers, a wide choice of sporting codes, music classes, good results… is the one you want.

The thing is, it is not in your street. So you have to go hunting for one.

You apply online and based on where you stay, we hear Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi will decide which school he wants your child to attend.

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That’s where the disputes come in: that school is too far from our home.

That’s not the school I prefer… And remember, there are other parents who don’t have the means to apply online, simply because they are poor.

Others fail to send all documents needed when they apply.

So, when the schools open, so begins the headache. The number of minibuses ferrying children to schools out of the townships is staggering.

One hoots outside my home early in the mornings.

I’m afraid until all schools are sufficiently equipped, safe, classroom are not crammed, they have proper toilets, enough and committed teacher, produces top results: so good that a teacher has her children where she teaches, minibuses will keep roaring out of the township to better schools and the scramble for spaces will intensify and will one day turn ugly.