Cape Town - Late applications to schools continue to be a problem despite “massive communication” about the deadlines for enrolment, the Department of Basic Education says.
In a statement, which focused on the state of readiness for the 2016 academic year, the department said some parents ignored published cut-off dates while in other cases parents moved from rural areas to big cities at the beginning of the year to lodge their applications.
Palesa Tyobeka, the department’s deputy director-general for district support, co-ordination and monitoring, said the department required pupils to be registered by September of the preceding school year.
According to the department “informal settlements that spring up around established communities due to influx from rural to urban areas” also present a challenge as it made it difficult to predict enrolment numbers ahead of the new year.
English medium schools perceived as providing a better quality education also had the challenge of managing all the applications.
The department said balancing the rights of School Governing Bodies to determine school admission policy and the rights of parents to enrol their children at schools of their choice was creating tension.
Meanwhile, Education MEC Debbie Schäfer has announced that textbook deliveries to schools for next year should be finalised by Friday.
She said more than 900 schools had placed orders for top up textbooks.
“A total of 448 727 textbooks have been ordered for the 925 schools.
“To date 80 percent of the textbooks have been delivered to the schools - finalisation of the delivery process is October 30 which allows schools time to report any incorrect deliveries, shortages or errors before the end of the school year, as well as complete their arrangements for book distribution within their school.
She said schools needed to implement adequate systems to retrieve textbooks at the end of each year, adding that the government couldn’t afford to keep replacing books.
“It is unfortunate that many learners do not return their textbooks at the end of the year, which means that more money must be spent on replacing books.
“This is simply irresponsible and inconsiderate and a complete waste of money that could be better spent on other educational opportunities.”
Cape Argus
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