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The DA has observed that not all learners in Gauteng will be placed before the schools open and the academic year begins on Wednesday, 17 January 2018. A number of learners have not yet been placed and some of the preferred schools have reached full capacity.

This follows the DA’s visit to two admission centres namely; Gauteng Department of Education Johannesburg South District Office and Johannesburg Central District Office.

These offices along with many others across Gauteng, were open over the weekend to assist thousands of parents who are experiencing problems with registering their children for the 2018 academic year.

There were many parents queuing at these application centres, hoping for their children to be placed in schools before Wednesday.

These include amongst others, new applications, those who have applied and have not yet received any confirmation about placement and those that applied last year and were given spaces, but are not happy with their school placements.

The department must strike a balance to ensure that placements at schools are fairly distributed paying attention to schools with less demand.

Some schools have no space available, while some schools were declared full from day one of online registration.

The biggest challenge is the lack of excellent schools hence the demand for enrollment in those few schools of excellence that are performing well.

The DA calls upon the Gauteng Education MEC , Panyaza Lesufi to create more high performing schools by resourcing underperforming schools with adequate infrastructure which includes; sporting facilities, well equipped libraries and laboratories and qualified teachers.

By so doing it will enable those underperforming schools to compete with those which have a legacy of excellence; this will then change the perception of the parents when selecting schools for their children.

An inadequate campaign drive and poor communication with parents about online registration has resulted in this backlog of many unplaced learners in the province.

The DA has proposed to MEC Lesufi to open online registration in March, and communicate with parents regarding placements before the end of September.

This must include driving awareness in areas where parents have little access to mainstream media.

We urge parents to accept available schools for the placement of their children as their preferred schools may have reached full capacity. This will enable their children to start school on opening day and will decrease the backlog of learners that have not yet been placed.

Quality education remains one of the major contributers to social stability and aids in freeing many from poverty, it must therefore be treated with the necessary importance.

The DA will continue monitoring the process to ensure that every learner has been placed.

Issued by DA