19 900 learners still not placed in Gauteng

19 January 2017

The DA is highly concerned that into the second week of the school year, 19 913 learners across the province have not been placed in a school, with no concrete assurances in place from Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi as to when they will find themselves in a classroom.

Today, the MEC announced that 12 821 applications had been received through walk-ins at admission centres, of which 7 820 are for Grade 1 and 5 001 for Grade 8.

The learner: teacher ratio in the province is already high, making contact time difficult and focused interventions nearly impossible.

This highlights the department’s failure to rapidly equip the province with desperately needed new schools.

Whilst the reduction of online placements is commendable, thousands of learners in the second week of the school calendar still await placement.

Parents have been given no assurance or deadlines as to when their children will be placed in school.

MEC Lesufi must communicate with parents and learners daily as to the number of placements made and provide assurance to parents that their children will be able to attend school. This will test the viability of the online registration system.

The DA will be closely monitoring the progress of school admissions in the province and we will continue to conduct oversight visits at schools to inspect the impact of more learners whether it was followed by more resources – such as additional teachers, classrooms, stationery and furniture.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, 19 January 2017