Pretoria - Even though parents may be able to meet the Department of Education’s criteria for placement in nearby schools, there is a chance their children may not be placed in the desired school due to placement challenges.
Speaking at Hoërskool Menlopark on the placement process for the 2023 Grade 1 and 8s, Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the reason parents may not get places for their children at nearby schools was a number of schools in the province which had received “abnormally high” applications.
Lesufi said there were roughly 275 primary schools that had received a high number of applications, which could result in some children not being placed.
Making it to the top three spots of the top 10 most sought-after primary schools was reportedly Pretoria’s Laerskool Akasia, Laerskool Theresapark and Laerskool Rachel De Beer.
According to Lesufi, in the case of Laerskool Akasia even though the school could only accommodate 255 learners, it had received 1 538 applications, Laerskool Theresapark with a capacity of 210 received 1 172 applications and Laerskool Rachel De Beer had received 1 138 applications despite having capacity for 211 learners.
At secondary schools, Lesufi said 221 battled with large numbers of applications with the most desired school being Pretoria’s Hoërskool Langenhoven, which he said only had capacity for 300 learners yet had amassed a record 2 607 applications.
Alberton High was the second-most wanted secondary school with 2 488 applications, while the learner capacity was 210.
In third was Parktown Boys’ High which had space for 152 learners, but had 2 328 applications.
In spite of these figures and placement concerns, Lesufi was adamant all learners would be placed in schools.
Lesufi added that to assist high-pressure schools to accommodate more learners the department would enhance space by providing schools with mobile units, and transferring funds to schools for self-build classroom projects.
Through this process, he said about 599 additional classrooms would be created for primary schools and 698 classes for secondary schools.
“So you might meet the criteria and still not be placed but there will be no child that will not get a school if the parents have applied. That is why we are asking for five school preferences so that if you can’t get space at your first choice we can check the other options.”
Lesufi said the online application system was using criteria which would assist the department in putting mechanisms in place to select learners as best as possible in spite of the high volumes of applications.
“We’re no longer going to build schools for the sake of building them, but we will build where they are needed,” he said.
Due to the desire to encourage people to learn closer to where they lived, Lesufi said the first criteria used in the application was the home address, as it saved the department transporting learners and enabled parents to attend meetings and for children to participate in after school activities.
Second, earners would be prioritised if they had a sibling at the school.
The work address of the parents was the third criteria, as stakeholders said they believed this would enable parents to drop and pick up their children.
And in the interest of advancing access, transformation, building social cohesion and encouraging strong non-racialism, Lesufi said the department would also be using the 30km-radius criteria.
“This is to ensure that a child in Soweto must not be stuck with schools in Soweto, if they want to go study in Sandton they must be allowed if the parents can afford and believe it is the best school for them.”
Placements will commence today with parents who have applied receiving SMS notifications from today until November 30.
Those who have not submitted their proof of residence would, according to officials, be accommodated from December 1 to 15, which would lead to them being placed at schools with available spaces.
Provision has also been made for objections and appeals, where if a placement is offered in schools which was not applied to, parents had the option to accept or decline the offer.
This was not the case, however, in instances with schools chosen by the parents.
To submit an objection parents were encouraged to complete an electronic objection form online within seven days of the offer.
The objections would, according to the department, be investigated on merit and the outcome communicated to parents within 14 days.
An appeal could be made also within seven days. However, the decision and outcome were final, Lesufi stressed.
Pretoria News