No school for Fleurhof kids

While most parents share their excitement and pictures of their kids first day at school, that was not the case for parents in Fleurhof as they stormed inside the district office after their children were rejected by Florida Park High School.

The community of ward 70 issued a media statement stating how Fleurhof did not have a local school “yet Florida Park High School, being the closest school, was rejecting our children”.

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Community members said the Gauteng department of education (GDE) allocated children to schools like Die Burger and RW Fick, where parents cannot afford transport costs.

Lori Richards is one of the parents whose child wasn’t placed in a school nearest to them.

“We have gone through all the online processes that GDE has given us, where we apply and register our child, but they came back to us and said there is no space in Florida Park High School,” she said.

Richards said they had been fighting for a high school in Fleurhof for the past year and they have about 30 children who are not placed in school and the department of education isn’t listening to their grievances.

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When parents went to the district office, they were allegedly told they had to accept the offer given as it was not the district office’s problem but the GDE’s and the department of human settlements’ problem since Fleurhof doesn’t have educational and social facilities.

After a meeting with the district director, parent Selby Leshaba said the official will seek clarification after Leshaba rejected the district office offer.

“Their offer was that parents must accept where students were allocated, which changes nothing and we couldn’t accept that.

“They promised us transport for the schools in Soweto but they haven’t done that since last year,” Leshaba said.

Parent Fikile Xaba said it was a bad experience for a child who was starting Grade 8.

“That child is just standing outside doing nothing, which makes us look like bad parents who are irresponsible, who didn’t register on time. Yet, we registered on time.”

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Xaba said her child was placed at a school she didn’t apply for nor did she give consent for her child to be placed there.

“To my understanding, I applied for my child at Florida Park High School. Now that our children are being rejected here, what must we do? They must create space for our children,” she said.

The residents said “children have a right to access a school in a 5km radius”.

Another parent, Melicia Peters, said she struggled with online applications and when she took it to GDE, they wanted to place her child at the Johannesburg CBD, which was far and not safe for a 14 year old to travel. Leshaba claimed a pupil committed suicide last year.

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“That issue was devastating because that child was raped on their way to school. The problem with the GDE [is that]they take Fleurhof community for granted.”

He added if the GDE offered transport for children to any school they allocate them, they will reach an agreement.

“Failure to do so, tomorrow we take our children to Florida Park High School and we won’t be peaceful.”

Richards implored the GDE to create space for their children at Florida Park High School.