Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has urged parents and guardians to hand in placement applications for Grades 1 and 8, as well as transfer applications for the 2024 school year, before the incoming deadline.
As of 5 April, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) had received 103 796 applications.
A total of 342 497 applications have been lodged, considering parents who have applied to more than one school.
Online applications opened on 13 March and will close on Friday, 14 April.
The province’s education MEC, David Maynier, said it was a regular occurrence for the department to receive applications closer to the deadline.
However, he said, parents needed to apply on time.
“It is extremely important for parents to apply on time for the coming school year so that we can plan effectively for places for their children,” Maynier said.
Of particular concern is Grade 7, where 44 000 pupils are yet to apply for Grade 8 next year.
Maynier said the department aims to contact several schools to encourage Grade 7 parents to apply.
Meanwhile, Vanessa Le Roux, founder of the Parents for Equal Education South Africa, said that parents have been struggling with applications. Le Roux has since called on the WCED to fix various issues experienced by parents and guardians.
Le Roux is an administrator for a Facebook page titled “Parents for Equal Education South Africa” (PEESA). The page aims to assist parents struggling with applications and has over 109 000 members.
“Since applications opened, people have been struggling. There have been errors, and people could not download them.
According to Le Roux, this happens each year.
She said:
Le Roux said the online application platform was limited in its accessibility for parents who could not afford internet access.
Maynier said parents who experience technical issues with applications could log a query for assistance. He said pop-up stalls would also be used to assist those without internet access.
Pop-up stalls will be made available in the Cape Metro and outside of Cape Town.
However, Le Roux said that even if pop-up stalls were made available, there were still barriers that parents and guardians face.
“People do not have money to go malls. They have pop-up stalls in certain areas, but it is not enough for poor working-class people. We need a station in every community,” she said.
Meanwhile, Department of Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the opening date for 2024 school applications has not yet been indicated in other provinces
“We are not open yet. We just finalised admissions for this year following some delays with placing learners in some provinces,” Mhlanga said.
The school application admission function is handled by each province on their own time.
“At this point, only the Western Cape and Free State are open; the other provinces have not yet opened. They will open their school applications at different times with different closing dates,” Mhlanga added.
Mhlanga said one of their biggest challenges was always “late and sudden applications” that are not planned for, only for people to arrive in particular areas and then “causing a lot of problems.”
“The advice is to apply as soon as the applications are open where you are,” added Mhlanga.
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