Johannesburg – Gauteng MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi on Wednesday said that the urgent court interdict sought by two Pretoria high schools was unexpected as they were in discussions to resolve issues surrounding language and demographic issues.
On Tuesday Lesufi's office was handed court documents seeking to stop him from allowing more learners into their schools.
"They have more Afrikaans classes than English. We were in discussion to expand English classes and then I was issued papers," said Lesufi.
He said that the two schools, Overkruin and Montana High School, were refusing to take more English speaking learners, saying it would affect language and demographic policies.
However, the high court in Pretoria‚ ruled the matter brought by the two schools was not urgent and struck it off the roll.
"Our approach is simple, those on waiting list A and B will be placed. Last year we placed the last learner on the 2 May. Our target is end of February"
Lesufi added that 87% of the learners that needed to be placed were in progression grades which are grades 2, 3 and 4.
When asked about the new online registration, Lesufi said that parents needed to adjust to change.
As many as 40 000 learners were still waiting to be placed in schools resulting in questions about the efficiency of the online registration system
"We can't go back. It duplicates things. The online registration is telling us which areas need new schools," Lesufi said.
"I'm convinced that the 40 000 will be attended to. The only limitation is that we won't take you to the school that you want. We are pushing schools hard and schools are fighting back."
Lesufi said that ideally 200 new schools were needed to clear learner placement backlogs and to meet growing demands.
This year the province will build a new school every month, he said.