Squeezed-out kids get taught at home

Gauteng teen Skye Meiring's books and uniform have been bought - but she has no school to go to.

Skye, 13, who was due to start high school on Wednesday, is at home waiting to hear if space has become available at Hoërskool Bekker in Magaliesburg, which her two elder siblings attended.

Her mother, Clair Galloway, said she had tried to apply on the Basic Education Department's online application system last year but had had difficulty loading Skye' s details.

"I decided to do what I did in the past with my other children and go directly to the school. I went last Monday and was told they are full. They asked me to check with them again ... in case children may have gone to other schools. I have tried at other high schools in the area and they are also full.

story_article_left1

"If forced, I will home-school for a while. Skye is a bit upset she can't go to school and be with her friends, but is also looking forward to the idea of home-schooling," said Galloway, a bookkeeper in Randfontein.

Gauteng parents had to apply for 2017 placements online.

Like Galloway, Sarah-Jane Brown of Fish Hoek, Cape Town, has to home-school her children after she failed to find them a school.

Brown has started classes at home with her Grade 7 daughter, Jessie, and Grade 5 son, Peter, after trying since November to get them into a local school.

In November, she decided to move from KwaZulu-Natal.

"I applied to schools and had no joy. I wrote to the education department, who said they would get someone from the area to contact me. I was later sent forms to fill out to see if they could find me places.

"By that time I had come across E-classroom on the internet. I realised this would save me from buying uniforms and paying school fees. For R30 I was able to register and get lesson plans," said Brown.

With so much emphasis on universities, schools had been forgotten, she said. "There are developments taking place, but not schools. The system has let the children down. Parents are now being forced to home-school, which is not a bad idea."

full_story_image_hright1

Brown's children were among 17,500 in the Western Cape who had no school to go to on day one. In Gauteng, 35,800 were not at school on Wednesday.

Paddy Attwell, Western Cape education director of communication, said the department was reasonably confident it would be able to place the children. "Our officials are working with schools to place learners.

"They are identifying learners who are 'double-parked', where parents have enrolled their children in more than one school, and where learners appear on more than one waiting list. We are also using an online system to identify available places.

story_article_right2

"We can't put a date to when we'll place all learners. To some extent, it is a moving target, as learners continue to arrive in the province."

Attwell said late applications were the main reason why children had not been placed.

Gauteng education department spokesman Oupa Bodibe said it had set up 62 operation centres to assist parents with admissions.

Kerry Hayes, production manager of E-classroom, an online portal for educational material, said more parents were using its material.

"There has been a huge increase in the number of people registering on our site. And certainly home-schooling seems to be growing."

E-classroom users increased from 235,000 in January last year to 600,000 in December.

Amy Nortje, of Clonard, which provides home-schooling curriculums, said it had noticed a marked increase in parents choosing home-schooling.

"Some say they haven't managed to get placement at their local school. They can't afford the local private schools and consider home-schooling."

pillayt@sundaytimes.co.za