Beauty Letswalo is adamant that her children were denied the opportunity to study at Northcliff High School based on their socio-economic status.
The parent of two siblings, aged 13 and 14, has been going back and forth with the school and the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) surrounding the controversy of her children’s rejected application.
According to Letswalo, she had applied through the department on August 10 last year, for her children to attend the school.
A letter from Northcliff High School sent out to parents described how the children were not refused admission to the school based on the parents’ ability to pay fees, but rather the result of their position on the online admissions system, “Simply put, there were many learners ahead of her children who qualified for admission before the school reached capacity,” the statement read.
In a tweet regarding the matter, Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi said, “We offered an alternative school for the kids. Unfortunately, the family declined the offer and wanted the learners to be admitted at a school with almost 453 learners on a waiting list. We will continue to facilitate assistance to the family.”
Ward 88 councillor Nicolene Jonker expressed her sadness over the situation. She said the school did comment that it was not them who denied access to the school but rather the department, “This made me think – do parents realise that they need to go to open days and do applications right about now, and should their children be going to grades 8 and 1?”
Jonker added that this is not the first situation of its kind in Ward 88, stating there was a similar issue at Roosevelt High School where a parent had to take her child 7km away from their house which was not only costly but out of route for the child to attend the school, “We should definitely look into doing an awareness campaign on how to apply to basic education primary and secondary schools.”
GDE’s spokesperson Steve Mabona said it was factually incorrect that a learner was denied admission to the school based on the parents being unemployed. “The two learners were admitted at Ferndale High School. However, their parents refused this alternative placement offer and proceeded to purchase the uniform of their preferred school, Northcliff High School, insisting that they will camp outside the school until their children are enrolled.”
He explained that the placement offer at Ferndale High School still stands as Northcliff High School has reached full capacity and the parents were notified of this, hence the alternative placement offer given to them.
Mabona appealed to the parent to reconsider their stance on this matter, “Their actions are delaying, and ultimately, jeopardising their children, affecting their future dearly as a result.”
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