It is all systems go as the academic year officially begins, but some school admissions have still not been processed.
The Gauteng Department of Education revealed that they have placed over 21 000 late applications for grade 1 and 8, however parents are panicking and not pleased with the school placements.
Gauteng Education MEC, Matome Chiloane said that the department is continuing to place learners in schools and highlighted that parents who have applied late will not be given the opportunity to change the school chosen for their child.
“For late applications we offer space where it is available. When a parent applies and accepts the school, we consider it as a placement. Some parents come after applying and try to change the school, unfortunately that cannot happen,” he said.
In KwaZulu-Natal 214 205 Grade 1 and 231 171 grade 8 learners so far have been placed. The department said that they have not yet placed all learners but are trying to take control of the situation.
The Western Cape Education MEC, David Maynier said their efforts to place learners in schools continue with approximately 120 000 placements completed. Maynier pointed out that they will also be processing extremely late applications and will leave no application unattended.
“We have already placed around 120 000 Grade 1 and 8 learners, and we will continue our efforts to place the remaining learners seeking placements at our schools, including extremely late applications’” he said.
He added that their rapid school build programme is coming in very helpful during this time.
“We are working hard to expand access to quality education in the Western Cape. Our rapid school build programme continues to expand the number of spaces available in schools in our province,” he said.
The three provinces have assured parents that all learners will be placed as soon as possible, so they too can get started with the 2024 academic year.