Cape Times - Hundreds of parents in the Western Cape are still scrambling to find a school for their children at the start of the academic year on Wednesday.
Among them is Langa mother Millicent Tingwe,
who said she had timeously applied for her son to start Grade 1 at Rondebosch Boys’ Preparatory, Wynberg Boys’ Junior School, Rosebank Primary, Grove Primary School, Pinehurst Primary School and Pinelands North Primary.
But she was rejected by all of them.
Tingwe said her son, who turns seven next month, will not be starting school on Wednesday and she doesn’t know what will happen next.
“I have written to the provincial education department but nothing has happened. I’ve been referred to a religious school and one that is out of my way to reach.
“I will now write to (Basic Education) Minister Angie Motshekga,” Tingwe said.
Last week, the Western Cape Education Department said it had about 11000 unplaced pupils in the province.
In the West Coast district, there are at least 230 pupils who have no school to go to.
A teacher in the area said the district director told parents to “be patient and they would try to sort out the problem next Monday”.
In Strand, parents queued at Khanyolwethu Secondary School yesterday, hoping to get a place for their children after they were put on a waiting list.
In Wolseley in the Boland, farm schoolchildren are having to squeeze into one classroom while there are empty classrooms in a former Model C school.
Koos Arendse, principal of Errie Moller NGK Primary School in Wolseley, said the two no-fee farm schools in the area are full, while Wolseley Primary School, a former Model C school, has empty classrooms.
The only problem is that it costs R4 800 a year - money the farmworkers do not have.
The situation in Wolseley was first brought to light in 2015, and three years later nothing has changed, Arendse said.
For 20 years, Arendse has also fetched all his pupils in his bakkie, forking out about R1 000 a month from his own pocket to do so. After an article detailing his story was published in the Cape Times, he got a bus.
But the contract has expired, and Arendse has no idea how his pupils will get to school on Wednesday.
Provincial Education Department spokesperson Millicent Merton said officials across districts are working to ensure pupils find a place at a school as soon as possible.
On the West Coast, they are identifying pupils who
have “double-parked”, where parents have enrolled their children in more than one school.
In Strand, pupils’ names have been captured on to the School Admission Management Information System.
Concerning the Wolseley schools, Merton said parents unable to pay school fees can apply for an exemption.
“The primary schools in Wolseley can accommodate the learners. The WCED informed Errie Moller Primary School well in advance that the department would not be providing pupils with transport this year.
“The school governing body indicated that it intended to provide its own transport for the pupils,” Merton said.
SA Democratic Teachers Union provincial secretary Jonavon Rustin said every year there was an issue around placement, and the WCED needed to identify rapidly growing areas and build more schools.
Rustin said integration was also a problem and in Grabouw, for example, there is one school that offers isiXhosa, and yesterday there was a long queue of parents wanting to enrol their children.