571 pupils in Gauteng yet to be placed for grades one and eight

The Gauteng department of education has announced that 571 pupils in Grades 1 and 8 whose parents and guardians submitted complete applications on the Online Admissions system remain to be placed.

This translates to 97 Grade 1 pupils and 474 Grade 8 pupils who departmental officials are working towards placing.

“This simply means that the 2023 Online Admissions system has successfully facilitated the placement of over 291 574 Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils (Grade 1: 139 367 and Grade 8: 152 207) to date,” said the department.

Government failing it’s own people

Education activist Hendrik Makaneta says the issue of unplaced pupils is causing pain and misery to parents and children alike.

“We knew all along that the government was paying lip service when they said it would be resolved but clearly it is proving to be difficult to resolve on time.

“We cannot talk about school readiness when some of the learners are still outside of the classroom,” said Hendrik

 “What the government can do is to invest infrastructure in order to alleviate this problem of unplaced pupils,” said Makaneta.

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Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Speaking to SABC News, Gauteng Education Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said they were doing their best to control the situation.

 “We are working closely with the schools to increase capacity as they receive mobile units.

“Those that are building will also be monitored very closely and they can assist the department to increase capacity and we are working tirelessly to respond to all the appeals that have been lodged with the department we are finalizing that in due course,” said Steve Mabona.

“To alleviate capacity pressure, the GDE is building satellite schools in high-pressure areas. These are schools which are an extension of certain high-pressure schools, but are built on a different site or geographical area not far from the main school.

“In Johannesburg West, we have already built a satellite school for Florida High School, meaning that we will continue to place pupils at that school.

“The same applies for Tshwane West, where two satellite schools currently under construction, Theresapark Primary School No. 2 and Theresapark Secondary School.

“In Ekurhuleni, especially in Kempton Park, high-pressure schools will use specialist rooms for teaching, and these have helped significantly to increase capacity. Olifantsfontein Primary School will be assisted with the delivery of more mobile classrooms to accommodate all unplaced learners at that school.”

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