All parents need urgent certainty about the placing of their children in schools

10 January 2022

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is urging Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi to ensure that all learners are placed before schools open on Wednesday.

It is extremely regrettable that parents are not sure whether their children will be placed, so they are unable to buy uniforms, arrange transport where needed and buy stationery.

The DA believes that there should be no child of school-going age who have to stay at home because there is no space available.

The DA will be proposing to the MEC for Education that online admission for grade 1 and 8 be opened before May and be concluded before September this year.

This will ensure that schools with high demand are identified and are allocated more resources before the new academic year.

Furthermore, this will also avoid last minute interventions where resources are allocated in January and February while learners are losing out on valuable teaching and learning time.

The past two years have been characterised by disruptions due to COVID-19 and therefore the department must move with speed to ensure that learners can cover the lost learning and teaching time.

The lack of communication is causing anxiety and frustration amongst parents who applied on time but are still uncertain as to whether their children have a space or not. The department must place all children before Wednesday.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, 10 January 2022