Schools burst at the seams

Many pupils could be disappointed after schools receive more applications than chairs available in the classrooms.

Gauteng department of education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said: “To assist high-pressure schools to accommodate more pupils, we will augment classroom shortages and enhance space by providing schools with mobile units and transferring funds to schools for self-build classroom projects.”

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Lesufi said the process would avail about 599 additional classrooms for primary education facilities and 698 for secondary schools.

“A total of 764 062 applications were processed for both Grade 1 and 8, of which 330 227 were Grade 1 applications and 457 433 Grade 8 applications.”

Confirmation SMS’s

Lesufi said the confirmation SMSes to parents would be sent from today to 30 November. In Gauteng, 275 primary and 221 secondary schools were regarded as high-pressure institutions.

In Pretoria North, Laerskool Akasia, which had 255 spaces available, received 1 538 applications, while Laerskool Teresa Park had space for 210 new pupils, but received 1 172 applications for next year.

Other sought-after schools included Laerskool Rachel De Beer in Pretoria North, Palm Ridge Primary in Germiston, Lakeside Primary School in Boksburg and Alston Primary in Germiston.

Pretoria’s Hoërskool Langenhoven had 300 spaces available and received 2 607 applications, while Alberton High school received 2 488 applications versus 210 spaces available.

Park Town Boys High School received 2 328 applications with only 152 available.

Monitoring

Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng shadow MEC for education Khume Ramulifho said the DA would monitor the process of pupil placements. Ramulifho said late placements could not be tolerated any longer.

He said it resulted in pupils falling behind in the curriculum.

“The DA proposes that the department uses the information received from the online admissions to plan and prepare to ensure that schools have adequate learning resources. It includes recruiting more teachers, providing additional classrooms and replacing dilapidated mobile classrooms,” he said.

Ramulifho said each year pupils across the province were not allocated schools timeously despite applying on time.

“This causes uncertainty and frustration among the parents who are supposed to budget and plan for their children’s stationery, transport and uniforms,” he said.

Online platform

Hoërskool Wonderboom principal Marius Lezar said the online platform seemed to have fewer problems than in previous years.

Rianda Fourie said they applied for a Grade 8 placement in June and received the confirmation on the same day. “It was the easiest process ever,” she said.

Germari van Niekerk said she had no worries about where her child would go next year when he started his Grade 1 year.

“We were lucky because he was in Grade R of the primary school where we wanted to enrol him. He had automatic access to be placed in the school’s Grade 1 class,” she said.

Alicia de Lange said she was waiting for confirmation that her son could do Grade 1 at the same school as his older sibling.

 “They don’t accept bank statements or clothing accounts as proof anymore,” she added.

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