334 Gauteng schools contested their feeder zones designated in the 2‚067 maps drawn up by the Gauteng education department.
"We must emphasise that the adjudication process was in favour of 90 percent of schools that contested and recommended adjustments‚ which were implemented accordingly‚" Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Sunday.
"The remaining 10 percent schools unfortunately misinterpreted their feeder zones‚ confusing the 30km application radius with the feeder zone determination which was not provided for in terms of the criteria for determining feeder zones. The confusion was swiftly resolved."
A feeder zone is one of the criteria that a school should use when admitting pupils. It refers to the area from which a school accepts its core intake of children. Feeder zones used to be close to the relevant school.
Lesufi said the province’s school admission regulations were approved by the Gauteng Legislature which will now be gazetted before they are implemented.
"The new legislation formally outlaws all forms of unfair discrimination that is based either on language‚ culture‚ health status‚ financial status or any other thing that is contradictory to the constitution‚" Lesufi said.
Lesufi giddy despite 334 contesting their feeder zones
Image: Simphiwe Nkwali
334 Gauteng schools contested their feeder zones designated in the 2‚067 maps drawn up by the Gauteng education department.
"We must emphasise that the adjudication process was in favour of 90 percent of schools that contested and recommended adjustments‚ which were implemented accordingly‚" Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Sunday.
"The remaining 10 percent schools unfortunately misinterpreted their feeder zones‚ confusing the 30km application radius with the feeder zone determination which was not provided for in terms of the criteria for determining feeder zones. The confusion was swiftly resolved."
A feeder zone is one of the criteria that a school should use when admitting pupils. It refers to the area from which a school accepts its core intake of children. Feeder zones used to be close to the relevant school.
Lesufi said the province’s school admission regulations were approved by the Gauteng Legislature which will now be gazetted before they are implemented.
"The new legislation formally outlaws all forms of unfair discrimination that is based either on language‚ culture‚ health status‚ financial status or any other thing that is contradictory to the constitution‚" Lesufi said.
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"Gone are the days where people are told that you are born in the wrong area or you’re born in a township or rural area and therefore you cannot be admitted to a school that is outside the 5km radius. Gone are the days where our people will be excluded from entering quality schools purely because they speak a different language or they come from a different cultural group."
The new regulations empowers the head of department (HOD) to have the final say about admissions.
"The school governing bodies‚ yes‚ they will still play a role‚ but the final arbiter‚ the final decision maker‚ will be the HOD assisted by our district officers."
Schools have 90 days to submit their admission policies to the HOD for ratification.
The Constitutional Court directed the department on May 20 2016 to determine feeder zones for public schools in the province.
Source: TMG Digital.
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