A new school year gets underway today, but not without the usual frustration and anger from the parents trying to get their children placed in schools in Gauteng.
According to the provincial department of education, more than 21,000 pupils who applied late had been placed in schools by yesterday, however, some parents rejected the schools where their children have been placed.
This created tensions outside several district offices yesterday, where desperate parents gathered as early as 6am to secure placement of their children into schools of their choice.
Some parents blamed the department’s online application system, saying it had placed their children as far as 30km away from their homes. Others complained they did not get space in their preferred schools and were being forced to accept placement elsewhere.
These problems are not new. What is slightly different this year is that there have not been as many complaints about the online application system’s technical issues or the system crashing.
This must be encouraging to those behind the system, which has been beset by problems since its introduction in the province. Whether the system is now functioning optimally remains to be seen. What is certain is that the scenes of frustration by parents outside district offices every year reflect a systemic failure on the part of the government to manage admission of children to schools effectively and poor planning.
First, it shows up the government for failing to build more schools in the province to meet the burgeoning demand for education facilities in line with the population growth.
Second, there are simply not enough good schools offering quality education around for parents who want to give their children a better future therefore they all flood into the few available and oversubscribed.
Today ’s schools reopening will again be met with mixed emotions as some parents know that the future of their children is at stake. The only way these problems can be eradicated going forward is if the government prioritises building more schools and improving the quality of education offered in all public schools in the province.
SOWETAN | Slapdash planning robs pupils
Image: Antonio Muchave
A new school year gets underway today, but not without the usual frustration and anger from the parents trying to get their children placed in schools in Gauteng.
According to the provincial department of education, more than 21,000 pupils who applied late had been placed in schools by yesterday, however, some parents rejected the schools where their children have been placed.
This created tensions outside several district offices yesterday, where desperate parents gathered as early as 6am to secure placement of their children into schools of their choice.
Some parents blamed the department’s online application system, saying it had placed their children as far as 30km away from their homes. Others complained they did not get space in their preferred schools and were being forced to accept placement elsewhere.
These problems are not new. What is slightly different this year is that there have not been as many complaints about the online application system’s technical issues or the system crashing.
This must be encouraging to those behind the system, which has been beset by problems since its introduction in the province. Whether the system is now functioning optimally remains to be seen. What is certain is that the scenes of frustration by parents outside district offices every year reflect a systemic failure on the part of the government to manage admission of children to schools effectively and poor planning.
First, it shows up the government for failing to build more schools in the province to meet the burgeoning demand for education facilities in line with the population growth.
Second, there are simply not enough good schools offering quality education around for parents who want to give their children a better future therefore they all flood into the few available and oversubscribed.
Today ’s schools reopening will again be met with mixed emotions as some parents know that the future of their children is at stake. The only way these problems can be eradicated going forward is if the government prioritises building more schools and improving the quality of education offered in all public schools in the province.
Parents opt to buy uniform from school-recommended suppliers
Anxious parents camp outside Gauteng Department of Education offices
Anger as new school year gets under way
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