Africa-Press – South-Africa. Last-minute school hunting continues to overburden Gauteng parents whose children still need to be placed.
On Wednesday, inland pupils returned to school to start the 2023 academic year.
In Gauteng, about 290 751 pupils will be seated behind a desk.
Sadly, 1 394 candidates will remain at home, uncertain if they will be attending school.
On Wednesday morning, frustrated parents queued at Sharonlea Primary School to enquire about their children’s placement status.
Queen Mokone, who woke up early to stand in line with her niece, said she was frustrated by the online registration system as she was still unfamiliar with it.
“This new registration process is different. It’s not working for us as the older generation.
“We needed to be prepared for the new registration system. No one is making enough noise about it.”
Mokone said aside from needing to be better informed about the system, it was worthwhile to consider the cost of access to the internet.
“A lot of people don’t have access to the internet, and not everyone can afford to go to an internet café to register online.” she added.
As things stand, Mokone – who stays in Northriding – finds herself in limbo as she does not know where her niece will attend school.
Her fear now is that her niece will be placed at a school which is far from where she stays.
“I stay in Northriding, which is close to the school and is the most affordable.
“I will be paying for my niece’s school fees and transport, and if they locate me in an area very far, it’s going to be too steep because I have my own son, and I have to think about him as he is going to [creche].”
She said placement issues could have easily been avoided if schools considered pupils closest to them first before looking at those outside the school radius, adding:
A 35-year-old woman from Weltervreden Park said her child was placed at a school that was not her first choice.
This despite being one of the first who applied after online applications opened on 22 July 2021.
“When they opened the online applications, I was one of the few parents that applied early, and my son was not allocated either of the choices I made.
“They just took me and placed me at Highlands North Boys High School, which wasn’t the school of my choice.
“I had selected King Edward VII School and Parktown Boys’ High School. I appealed and followed the process, but nothing has been done,” she said.
The woman, who also stood in line at Sharonlea Primary School, added she was there to request that her son be placed at a school close to where they stayed because she did not want to struggle with transportation.
“I am here to get a school close by because, as you know, transport to take a child from one point to another is an issue. The nearer, the better.
“Highlands North is not an option for me. The school is not my choice,” she said.
Another woman from Alexandra added her daughter attended a public school where half of her fees were subsidised from grades 1 to 10.
“Now that she was about to progress to Grade 11, I was told the school was now private and I would have to pay the full amount.
“I told them that I won’t be able to pay the total amount because I don’t have that kind of money.
“The principal then told me to go find another school because I won’t be able to pay.
“When I tried to look for space, I had no luck because all the schools were full,” the woman said.
She added when she met with the district to enquire, they told her she must go to Sharonlea to resolve the matter.
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