March for education continues with no solution yet
Parents from Fleurhof are still searching for a school for their children despite the school year being in full swing.
On January 19, the Roodepoort Record reported on parents gathering at Florida Park High School trying to have their children placed as it is closest to their residences.
On February 5, Shelby Leshaba, one of the parents explained they marched to the district offices of the Department of Education as they were still not happy with the decision by the district of their children’s schooling. After the initial march, they were met by officials from the department and they were offered placement in a school in Soweto, however, they did not accept.
Leshaba explained they took the children to the school before heading to the offices, however, they did not receive a solution to the problem after having met with three managers. They then decided to head back to Florida Park High School where they wanted to ‘disrupt schooling’. There they met with some of the social workers, however, they still did not get a solution.
• Also read: ‘We will force our kids in’
He stated, “We gave them until February 7 to resolve the problem and we are not taking Hoërskool Die Burger, it is definitely out of our list of schools that we can accept. If they don’t have any other school despite that one, then we are going back to square one. We are going to avail ourselves for placement at Florida Park High School.”
He added they also have parents whose children were refused placement at Fleurhof Primary School despite living in the area. He noted one of the parents accepted a school in Bosmont for her child, but cannot afford the transport costs as she relies on grant money.
“It’s not helping at all. All these other parents we have, have lost jobs, they are no longer working. There is only one parent that is working, which doesn’t help at all.”
He noted the parents can only look at the offers if the department offers them a better school and transport to said school.
“We are not prepared to accept anything other than that,” concluded Leshaba.
Mpho Power, another parent, explained Die Burger is 6.1km from their house while Florida Park is 5.5km away. He noted the transport amounts to R800 and he only started work in October last year. He added that the school itself is a problem, aside from the transport costs. He said the school is known for drugs and gangsterism.
“It’s hectic because we don’t know what’s going to happen and the child is not learning anything at the moment but we know one thing for sure we cannot send our daughter into the lion’s den,” said Power. He added his daughter is currently not in any school.
He concluded, “The placement system requires that we apply for the school which is nearest to where the child stays and which is within a radius of 5km. At the moment Fleurhof doesn’t have such a school, the only school that is close to us is Florida Park.”
