Ten days before the 2023 academic year starts, hundreds of learners in the Western Cape have yet to be placed at schools, sparking anger among parents around the department’s “haphazard placement strategy”.
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has put the number of unplaced Grade 1 and 8 learners at 680 as of December 20 and warned that schools were full.
“The education system is under immense pressure… we are going to struggle to place learners whose parents only apply this month,“ said spokesperson Millicent Merton.
The department has come under fire from parents, ANC MPL for Education, Khalid Sayed and activist group, Parents for Equal Education SA, for the “persistent” unplaced learner challenge.
Founder and co-ordinator of Parents for Equal Education SA, Vanessa le Roux said said it was highly likely that by March some of the unplaced learners would still be “sitting at home“.
Le Roux said her organisation would put pressure on Education MEC David Maynier to resolve the crisis urgently.
“Maynier cannot have an attitude that he did everything he could and now he's done and the rest of the learners must find their way. He is an MEC for all the children that reside in the province, even those that they claim come from other provinces.
“So, I would suggest he takes this time to go back to the drawing board and come up with real solutions.”
Sayed rejected the figure of unplaced learners presented by WCED, referring to them as “misleading“.
"It is entirely untrue that only 680 learners still need placement in schools. My email is full with complaints from parents who applied timeously and correctly and yet their children are not placed.
“We know as at November over 2 5000 learners, including those between grades 2 and 11, who requested transfers to other schools were not yet placed. To claim that only 1% of learners still need placements is entirely untrue.”
A Khayelitsha parent, who asked not to be named, said she applied online for her daughter to start Grade 8 this year, but had to resort to a private school after her application at eight different schools was turned down.
“My daughter is a high academic achiever and that was not considered at all. I think they just looked at my residential address and denied her a place at the schools we preferred, some of whom are in the southern suburbs and Stellenbosch.
“Now she is miserable. I cannot afford the private school fees, so I will try applying again for 2024.”
In mid-December she was told by a WCED official that her daughter was placed at a school in Bonteheuwel.
“I felt so disrespected. With all due respect, the area is known for a high crime rate.”
She also said she had been “advised” to approach parents who lived in the suburbs to apply on behalf of her daughter to boost her chances of being accepted.
A Strand parent, Gcobisa Mama, expressed hope that her child would finally be placed as they were on a waiting list.
“I applied to more than three schools for my child and my application is on the waiting list at the school I want. However, my child has been placed at a school not in my area,” she added.
Le Roux said some parents were “desperate” and were prepared to accept whatever school was offered by the department, which she accused of offering “gutter education“.
The provincial government has promised to build 842 classrooms as part of the rapid school build programme to accommodate the increasing demand for education.
According to the WCED, 347 classrooms were completed by December with remaining classrooms scheduled for completion before end March.
While Sayed welcomed the progress made in the building of the schools, Le Roux voiced concerns that at least 20 new schools had to be built each year to deal with the unplaced learner crisis.
“The provincial government has only promised seven schools and these mobile classrooms have been built on the Cape Flats, where gangsterism is rife… those mobile classes have no protection for stray bullets,” Le Roux added.
Sayed said the ANC would continue to demand permanent solutions to the learner placement challenge in the province.
“We reiterate our calls that no learner must be left behind in the 2023 academic year.”
WCED vowed to “leave no stone unturned” in its effort to place every learner.
The WCED said it did not apply a policy on feeder zones even though feeder zones might form part of a school’s criteria for admissions, as determined by a school governing body.
“Some schools factor proximity in their admissions policies, but it is rarely the sole criterion, if it is a criterion at all,” said Merton.
Weekend Argus