It’s been a full week since the 2024 academic year started, but not all learners are back in school. Some provincial departments are still working on placing all learners in schools.
The Northern Cape Education Department has stated that late applications have increased from 1 302 to 2 067 in the past week. Even though they have been trying their best to resolve this matter, receiving additional late applications has set them back, as the deadline for placing learners was 19 January 2024. They have received an increase of 765 additional late applications.
“The number of the late applications represent 1 231 applications for Grade R, 335 for Grade 1 and 501 for Grade 8. The number of late applications has set us back in terms of our time frame to place all outstanding learners by last week Friday,” Geofrey Van Der Merwe, the department’s spokesperson said.
A total of 26 learners have not yet been placed in schools, however the department is making plans to have them placed in the coming days.
Parents were also urged to work together with the department to ensure that all children who qualify to be in school are indeed attending school. They added that parents should keep in mind that there is only a limited number of schools with space and do no guarantee preferred schools for placements.
When schools re-opened last week, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, pleaded with the public to wait for 10 working days and give the provincial departments an opportunity to resolve all placement matters.