Basic education minister Angie Motshekga told of her “personal challenge” to have her niece enrolled at a school in Gauteng.
Responding to a question on the Gauteng education department’s online application system during a briefing on school readiness on Tuesday, she said: “The Gauteng system took her, admitted her and the school refused. The reasons they gave — and we are still raising — are just cultural.”
Motshekga said her niece was staying with her other niece, as her mother was unemployed.
“The surnames are different and they think it’s cheating the system, but this is not true. So there’s all these difficulties that come with admission,” she said.
She said though the online system had its difficulties, “administratively it helps the province map out and deal with some of the old problems where there is gatekeeping in certain schools”.
“When I was MEC [of education in Gauteng], there were racial connotations in some former model C schools; if you come as say ‘Motshekga’, then the school is full. In a way it has helped them [Gauteng education department] deal with gatekeeping problems.”
Understandably, a parent would like to get his or her child into the best school. Our challenge and responsibility is to make sure all our schools are able to meet the expectations and requirements of our parents.
— Director-general of basic education Mathanzima Mweli
Commenting on Gauteng’s online application system, she said the province was getting it right, adding: “I can’t say I am very unhappy with the system. I know it has challenges.”
Director-general of basic education Mathanzima Mweli said that Gauteng had been able to place 86% of applicants in schools.
Mweli said part of the problem with placements had to do with parental preferences for a particular school.
“Understandably, a parent would like to get his or her child into the best school. Our challenge and responsibility is to make sure all our schools are able to meet the expectations and requirements of our parents,” he said.
Motshekga said rotational learning would continue because one-metre social distancing requirements in the classroom were still in place.
“We encourage schools that are able to accommodate pupils with a reduced social distancing of a metre, to do that.”
She said they presented a submission to the national coronavirus command council last year to have the social distancing requirement reduced from 1.5m to half a metre but were not granted the concession. Instead, it was reduced to one metre.
Only 80% of pupils returned to class full-time last year.
“We are also aware there are schools that will, in terms of the protocol, not be able to take more pupils. We have requested provinces to work on providing infrastructure to schools that were over-crowded before Covid-19.”
Motshekga said in view of the decision by the country to “live side-by-side with the virus”, they will appeal again to the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs to reduce the social distancing to half a metre.
“We can’t just announce tomorrow every child ‘voetstoots skool toe’. It’s a process we have to negotiate.”
Meanwhile, it is unclear whether all 27 top achievers in last year’s matric exams will attend an event next week where the results will be released, because the pupils and their parents will have to give consent.
This comes in the wake of a notice this week from department of basic education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga, confirming that media houses will no longer be able to publish the matric results because of the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia).
The move signals the end of the tradition of pupils waiting anxiously outside newspaper houses and on street corners on the eve of the results being published to get a copy of the newspaper.
A notice dated January 10 stated the department recognised that Section 14 of the constitution provides that everyone has the right to privacy.
“This right to privacy includes a right to protection against the unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information.
“To comply with the provisions of the Popia, the usual practice of publishing the national senior certificate (NSC) results on public platforms [media platforms] will not occur for 2021,” the notice stated.
Deputy education minister Makgabo Reginah Mhaule said Popia would be adhered to for the 27 top achievers.
“It’s easy to get consent because it’s a small number and I believe their parents also may be looking forward to that. Every pupil would want to be seen as a top achiever,” she said.
“If it’s negative regarding consent, it will remain negative.”
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has welcomed the move not to publicise the results in the media, saying “it will lessen the stress suffered by matriculants, as some end up committing suicide due to embarrassment when their names do not appear”.
“It is also our view that publicising the results was an unnecessary invasion of many learners’ privacy.”
Schools will reopen for pupils in inland provinces — Gauteng, the Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West — on Wednesday and for coastal provinces — KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape — on January 19.
