Forget about queueing to get a space for your child at one of the country's schools. Now you can simply enrol them into South Africa's first virtual school - THINK Digital College.Launching next year, the college will offer the national curriculum and assessment policy and Cambridge curriculum to pupils from Grade R to Grade 12 at a fraction of the price of conventional schooling.When Janessa Leita's son Alessandro, 9, started displaying facial tics associated with a neurological disorder he was teased by his mates.''We persisted for a year, but each school day became increasingly more traumatic to the point that Alessandro would vomit as we entered the school gate," she said.''I began searching for online educational content, realising that his concentration span was much longer if he was learning on his tablet or cellphone," she said.THINK Digital College has three support channels for online pupils:• A learning coach;• A chat room where all pupils can communicate with virtual friends on the system; and• A "study buddy" to assist pupils and ensure they stay abreast of deadlines."It is a flexible, convenient, cost-effective and immediate virtual schooling system which makes it possible for pupils to work from home or from a 'think tutor centre' at the click of a button," said Leita.Pupils are able to enrol for subjects, work on assignments online and then submit work to be marked.The college is registered with the SA Comprehensive Assessment Institute, an Umalusi-accredited examination board offering the National Senior Certificate.One parent, who asked not to be named, said the school was a ''brilliant" idea.She said her 11-year-old daughter, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, would benefit from the new virtual school.''We started looking around because private school is just too expensive. It costs us R77,000 a year."With the virtual school my daughter will be able to go back to her lessons if she doesn't understand it the first time," she said.Basic Education Ministry spokesman Troy Martens said the department was also using technology to reach more pupils , but it would not replace important learning curves in the foundation phase, when children learn to read and write.Professor Ruksana Osman, a Wits University expert in education, said: ''Children need more than just a cognitive environment. They also need emotional engagement and socialisation."It will be interesting to see how the virtual school will do this. It has already shown that the establishment of tutor centres is needed, so the school cannot be completely virtual."Registration for next year's academic programme is open.The fees vary from R3,500 a year for Grade R to R9,500 for Grade 12...