The children who will not go to school today

Johannesburg mother Lerato Motloung has had to send her child to a private school for two years after battling to get her daughter placed in a government school.

Motloung broke down as she told her story while waiting in a queue of parents at the Gauteng education department's head office in Johannesburg yesterday.

Her daughter, Chisom, going into Grade 3 this year, has been rejected again by Randpark Ridge Primary - due to limited space - although she lives within walking distance of the school and the schools recommended by the department are even further away.

Motloung said she would have been happy to send Chisom to one of these schools but claimed she was told not to bother applying because she did not live in their feeder zones.

"I have not been placed for three years. It's not fair to be treated like this in my own country."

Motloung is one of many frustrated parents queuing outside the department's office.

On Monday 58,000 pupils had not yet been placed, with the academic year starting today . By yesterday afternoon that number was 40,000.

When Chisom was not placed in 2015, her mother sent her to a private school that cost her R2,400 a month. Last year the child was again not placed and school fees rose to R2,700 a month.

With fees at the INN-Tuition Academy in Randpark Ridge expected to increase to R3,000 this year, Motloung said she could not afford to send Chisom there.

"I cannot afford to go there any more. Where am I going to get that money from? Tomorrow my child is not going to school."

Motloung has been visiting the department's offices every month to try to sort out the mess but claimed she had been treated poorly by officials.

Two irate parents stormed into the Sandton district office yesterday, shouting and screaming.

"We want answers. Yesterday we came here. Then we were told to go to [a school in] Sundowner and we found no one there. We waited [there] for six hours," one yelled.

Manuela Salema said her child, going into Grade 4, had still not been accepted anywhere although she had applied in April last year.

The department said it hoped to have cleared the backlog by the end of February.