Kids placed in ‘ghost’ school

As the Gauteng department of education (GDE) continues with the process of placing Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils for next year, some parents say their children have been placed in a non-existent school.

Education MEC Matome Chiloane yesterday provided updates on placements of pupils in the 2024 online admissions, the recent completion of the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations and the plans to ensure school safety during the festive season.

He said the GDE has placed 99.8% of all complete applications, and was awaiting only 0.1% of parents to accept their placement offers. The placements started on 4 September where parents had options to apply up to three schools.

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Chiloane said there was 145 472 applications for Grade 1 and 160 509 for Grade 8. He indicated that to date, there were 272 639 applicants – with those with complete applications placed – and 324 applicants with complete applications who have offers of placement which required responses.

There were 32 795 applicants with incomplete applications.

“Provision is made for these to select schools with available space for placement from 11 December 2023,” he said.

‘Placing into a non-existent school’

However, Xolani Malinga a parent from Kempton Park, claimed there was an issue of children being rejected in all the three schools they had applied to.

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“As a parent of children who are currently doing Grade 7, and are going to Grade 8, our grievances are based on the Gauteng department of Education rejecting our children in the schools they applied to and placing them into a non-existent school.

“They called us into a meeting to tell us there’s this Kembirch High School that has been prepared or is in place, but when you go there, you find nothing. It is just an open field. No infrastructure and no water,” he said.

“Our kids will not be in a school that does not exist. Our children are not rubbish, they are human beings that need to be taken care of.”

Interventions to increase capacity

Malinga added that the whole online applications system was flawed and there was no transparency from the department.

“Some of the people who applied earlier or later were placed in proper schools So, what about our children? We feel that as parents, we’re being undermined and no one is showing the interest of taking care of our needs. It is like they were giving us a take it or leave it situation,” he said.

However, GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona said Kembirch was an alternative school in an establishment phase. “[This] was explained to parents who were not happy with the school, (and) they put proposals which we are considering. It must be noted that Kempton Park is our high pressure, and alternative schools are meant to alleviate pressure.”

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With regards to capacity, Grade 8 total capacity was at186 752, with available space at 44 545, while Grade 1 capacity was at 208 190 and available space at 77 434.

To ensure all pupils were placed, Chiloane said the GDE embarked on interventions to increase capacity, which included;

• Mobile Units: 341 units have been delivered to primary and secondary schools across Gauteng.
• Self-build programme: The GDE allocated funding to high pressure schools to build 1 745 additional classrooms to augment their capacity.

All identified schools were guided on how to commence with the procurement process to appoint constructors accordingly, and the process to transfer the said funds to about 606 schools was at an advanced stage.

‘Concerned about our kids’

Another parent, Lucy Shabangu from Edleen in Kempton Park, said parents decided to join the MEC’s meeting yesterday because their children were not placed.

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Shabangu, whose child is also a Grade 8 applicant, said the GDE “actually went and transferred” their children to Kembirch which they do not know about. “We went to that area and there is no school there. We are concerned about our kids. There’s no infrastructure and just nothing at all there.

“We’re not happy, and we’re declining the school. We want the MEC to make a point whereby there is infrastructure or they can take all those mobile containers they’re talking about and place them at proper schools with infrastructure.”