Online system reduced number of unplaced pupils ahead of new school year: Lesufi

10 January 2017 - 13:07 By Roxanne Henderson
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LET US IN! Pupils queue on the first day of school at the new ACJ Phakade Primary in Nomzamo, Strand, yesterday
LET US IN! Pupils queue on the first day of school at the new ACJ Phakade Primary in Nomzamo, Strand, yesterday
Image: ESA ALEXANDER

Parents who have moved to Gauteng in recent weeks and are seeking schools for their children may wait over a month before they are assisted.

The Gauteng Department of Education confirmed on Tuesday that it has yet to place 58 000 pupils in schools this year‚ ahead of the start of the academic year for pupils on Wednesday.

Speaking on Morning Live‚ Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said there are three categories of parents whose children still need to be placed:

The first is those who applied on time - in this bracket‚ 20% of the placements are not yet finalised‚ due to parents being dissatisfied with their children's placements.

The second category are parents who applied after applications closed last year.

These two categories make up the 58 000 pupils still in limbo.

“Then there is the last category‚ which is the worrying one‚ to be quite frank. It's parents that only appeared in our offices yesterday. With those parents‚ I want to be frank‚ honest and open.

“We are only going to start to place them‚ maybe‚ at the end of February and the beginning of March. We need to clear the main backlog first. You can see that automatically disrupts education‚” Lesufi told Morning Live of those who hadn’t attempted to place their children until this week.

Lesufi said this pattern of late applicants in January is seen every year and urged parents to apply timeously.

Though many parents have complained of glitches in the department's online application system‚ which was introduced last year‚ Lesufi said the reduced number of unplaced pupils in January showed the system is working.

“Last year‚ we didn't have the system and we had almost 80 000 parents that we didn't place [compared to 58 000 this year].”

He added that the digital platform allows parents to track their applications and the department to identify suburbs where the demand for schools is high.

According to Lesufi‚ almost 1.3-million parents applied on time and their children have been placed.

– TMG Digital

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