Johannesburg - Frustrated parents whose school-going children have not yet been placed in schools gathered outside the Hoërskool Jeugland in Kempton Park, where Education MEC Matome Chiloane updated the media on the school placement process.
Schools are set to open on Wednesday for the 2023 academic year.
Ekurhuleni North District Director, Noncebo Ntutha, assured the angry parents that their children will be placed.
There are 501 Grade 8 pupils who have not yet been placed in schools in Kempton Park.
MEC Chiloane delivering an update on the learner placements for Grades 1 and 8, said the pupils would be placed in classes as soon as possible.
Chiloane said the schools will confirm the available spaces for further placement once the already placed learners report to school on day 1.
Parents were outside the school after the briefing, waiting for the MEC to assure them that their children would be placed no later than Friday.
Addressing the parents, Ntutha asked for space to allow the department to find a solution.
"All the 501 parents, we have your database and contact details, by tomorrow we will be calling and updating you as to where we are. I'll be going back to the MEC and HOD to ask them to have mobile classes at Birchleigh North and other schools, to accommodate the learners who qualify to be there," she said.
Ntutha apologised to the parents for the late communication adding that some of the pupils were given space in other schools but due to the distance, the parents declined.
"How can we trust that our children will be placed at the last minute? You had last year to brief us on that but you did not, now we are here seeking space and we applied on time," an angry parent told the director.
Ntutha advised parents who received messages from the department to give tabs on their phones as they will be calling them.
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