Cape Town - Parents in Kraaifontein are concerned that their children might not get places at schools in the area before the opening of schools for the new academic year.
The Community Advisory Services (CAS), an advocacy group comprising parents from Kraaifontein say their children already (found) it difficult to find placements in local high schools.
Lelo Klaas, co-founder for CAS, said most of their children had not found placements in the local high schools due to the high numbers that the schools currently have.
Klaas said between Bloekombos and Wallacedene there were seven primary schools and four high schools.
She said this posed a problem every year because there were more primary graduates than the high schools could possibly place.
“This also results in crowded classes, an increase in school vandalism, corruption and a high number of drop-outs at high school level,” she said.
Klaas called on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to intervene and give guidance to the community and resolve the problem as soon as possible.
ANC provincial spokesperson on education, Khalid Sayed, said the persistent crisis of unplaced learners in the Western Cape was one that the department had been struggling with for years.
Sayed said in a reply to his parliamentary question last week, Education MEC confirmed that more than 12 900 learners were unplaced in the province, with the Metro East district the most affected.
“The challenge can only be addressed if the department builds new schools and employs additional teachers,” said Sayed.
He said together with the Kraaifontein community they had submitted cost-effective plans to the department, which had been ignored.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond, said the number of unplaced learners was changing rapidly and constantly as placements were made.
“We understand that parents are anxious, but this is an ongoing process, and the department will do everything it can to find a place for their child in a school,” said Hammond.
She said it was important that those parents also contact the district office to ensure that their child was registered on the system so that they can assist.
Hammond said there were no new high schools in planning for the area currently, however, planning for a new primary school in Wallacedene had been completed and construction would hopefully start soon.
Cape Argus