The Department of Basic Education (DBE) says the provision will be made for learners who have not yet been placed at schools around South Africa. This comes as thousands of learners remain without a school.
Schools located in inland provinces kicked off the 2023 school year on Wednesday, 11 January 2022, while those located in coastal provinces have one week left to prepare for a year of teaching and learning.
This means that within the next week, all learners are expected to be back in the classroom. However, thousands of learners are yet to be placed in schools.
DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga explained that the provincial education departments open admission applications months in advance in preparation for a new school year. However, there are always learners who need to be placed come the beginning of a new school year.
Mhlanga said, “We process [applications] by September, but come day one of school, you still have many more [learners] that need spaces because people have moved around in the provinces.”
The spokesperson says that several circumstances can result in thousands of parents needing placement for their children on the first day of school. This includes learners moving to a different residential area and the migration of parents to different provinces.
Bronagh Hammond, Director of Communications at Western Cape Education Department (WCED) says they are expecting that many learners will require placement in the coming months.
Earlier this year, the WCED reported that 111,000 learners have been placed at schools in Grade 1 and Grade 8 in the province. However, this left around 680 unplaced learners. The number of unplaced learners could also grow in the coming months.
Hammond explained that the department forecast a number of late registrations, as several circumstances can result in learners requiring to be placed in a different school to the one they were previously registered at. These circumstances include relocation of families and population growth.
While it is anticipating late registrations, the department is confident they have adequate facilities to hold learners. This confidence comes as the WCED undertook a school infrastructure delivery programme which aimed to build new schools and provide existing schools with additional mobile classrooms.
Hammond said that the reason for the high numbers of unplaced learners in previous years was due to budget constraints which meant there was not enough infrastructure and resources available to the department. However, this year, the budget has increased which allowed the department to build more schools.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is also facing learner placement challenges after its school year began earlier this week. The department placed 290,751 learners in Grade 1 and Grade 8 at schools in the province. However, when schools opened on Wednesday, 1,394 learners were unplaced.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane assured parents in the province that their children will be placed soon. They asked for patience while the department works to find spaces for unplaced learners.
Chiloane said, “We know that patience is not endless but allow us, work with us and be patient with us. It’s a very delicate process but just know that we are aggressive in ensuring that we get these learners in classrooms.”
In efforts to mitigate the placement challenges, the GDE has procured 419 mobiles to address the pressure of unplaced applications across the province and will be establishing satellite schools in high-pressure areas. The GDE will also work with other departments to acquire more land to increase the number of schools in high-pressure areas.
