While thousands of learners are getting ready for the 2022 academic year, 3 866 children are in limbo with no school placement for the year.
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has confirmed that 602 Grade 1s and 3 261 Grade 8s do not have places in provincial schools.
Kerry Mauchline, spokesperson for Debbie Schäfer, Western Cape Minister for Education, said, annually, there are key challenges faced in placing learners.
“The WCED budget does not grow at the same pace as learner numbers, as well as late (or no) applications by parents seeking placement at short notice.
“On average, an extra 18 000 to 20 000 learners join our schools each year, which would require building, staffing and furnishing at least 20 schools every year, which is something we simply don’t have enough funding for.”
She called on parents not to panic if their child has not yet been placed.
“We thank all parents for their patience during this difficult process. For those who are still waiting for a place, we ask that you remain calm, and be assured that we are working hard to place the remaining learners.
“We are in a better position in terms of placement this year, and hope to place these remaining learners by the start of the school year.”
Mauchline appealed to parents to answer calls from the department.
“We make a special appeal to parents to answer the phone calls from the department when officials call with an offer of placement.
“We are still finding that parents are uncontactable when we want to offer places. If your contact details have changed, please notify your district office immediately.”
Mauchline added that teaching posts and mobile classrooms will be kept in reserve to deal with any last-minute arrivals.
“Unfortunately, we know that come mid-January, a large number of additional learners will arrive, without any application having been made for them, seeking place in our schools.
“It is very difficult to predict where these learners will seek place. We have thus kept teaching posts and mobile classrooms in reserve to deal with the last-minute arrivals.”
Meanwhile to relieve the pressure on school placement for 2022, the department says it will add new brick and mortar classrooms to existing schools, place mobile classrooms in areas of high demand and activate eight new high school expansion sites for the start of the school year, to accommodate Grade 8 intakes for the start of the school year.
The department further states that it will establish seven starter mobile schools to be ready at the end of the first term, which will be expanded each year to accommodate additional grades and repair and repurpose existing classrooms and schools.
Since the 2016/’17 financial year, the WCED has built 72 new, replacement and mobile schools. Of these, 41 schools were replacement schools to address the backlog in the replacement of old structures built during the apartheid era and 10 schools were completed last year.
