2017 school year placements filling up fast

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Published Jul 29, 2016

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Cape Town - With places for the 2017 school year filling up fast, parents who have not yet found places for their children are being advised to contact other schools as soon as possible.

Schools had to inform parents by June 24 to tell them whether their child’s application had been successful or not, and Monday was the deadline by which parents had to indicate whether they would be accepting the place their child had been offered.

Schools were then able to determine how many places they had available and pupils who had been placed on the waiting list, for example, could then be assisted.

Millicent Merton, a spokeswoman for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), said if parents had not indicated to a school whether they were accepting a place offered to their child, the school could now give this place to another pupil.

She said the department was receiving requests for assistance from parents and all requests had been referred to officials at district offices for assistance.

Asked what parents should do if their child had not yet been placed, she said: “Parents are advised to contact other schools. They may also contact our district offices to ensure the learner’s details are captured on our School Admissions Management Information database.”

In a statement last month, Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said some parents were demanding their child be placed in a particular school, but that placement in a parent’s school of choice could not be guaranteed.

She said the school governing body and not the provincial education department was responsible for the admissions policy of a particular school. Schools could therefore determine certain criteria that were in line with the law, which could benefit some pupil admissions over others, such as sibling preference.

She said some schools received five times the number of applications than the places they had available and therefore couldn’t satisfy the needs of everyone who applied.

According to the statement, the proximity to a school did not always guarantee placement. Parents who feel that their child had been been unfairly discriminated against in terms of admissions, could lodge an appeal with the MEC. The parent would need to set out the grounds for the appeal, include proof of the application as well as the school’s letter of decline.

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Cape Argus

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