Western Cape education department 'inundated' by late school applications

Almost four weeks into the first term of schooling, the Western Cape education department has admitted to not having placed all pupils in schools after receiving about 3,500 late applications. 

On Sunday education MEC David Maynier said over the past few weeks the department has been “inundated with brand new, extremely late applications”. 

Out of 3,391 grade 1 and 8 applications received since January, Maynier said 2,006 had been processed and the pupils placed. But 1,325 pupils are yet to be placed. 

“These applications pose a great challenge for the department, as they are arriving daily in an unpredictable pattern, so we are constantly chasing a moving target,” said Maynier. 

“We ask for patience as we make progress in placing these extremely late applicants. They have arrived without warning, and we cannot predict where and when these late applicants will arrive. This has made planning our resource allocation in advance extremely difficult.”

Among the late applicants is a grade 3 pupil, Sesake Thamae of Delft, who arrived in Cape Town from Lesotho in January. 

His frustrated father Mpiti Thamae said despite applying at Eindhoven Primary School early in January, his son is still unplaced. 

“He was admitted by the school pending approval from the department of education. I have made follow-ups with the department, but the response is the same: 'Wait, we are still processing the application.'” 

Thamae said though he is currently home-schooling his son, he is worried about him not being placed in a school “as time is moving so fast”. 

But Maynier called for patience saying it will take some time to redirect resources to cater for these pupils. 

“We have printed resource packs for late applicants and provided these to the district offices where the new applicants arrive. Online support links have been sent to parents for additional reading and home learning, while placement is finalised. 

“Our officials and schools have done a phenomenal job under extreme pressure to make sure that they find a place for every child. We are leaving no stone unturned in our effort to place every learner, and we will continue to work to finalise placement for all remaining learners.

“We understand that the placement process can cause frustration for parents, and we ask for their patience and assure them that we are doing everything we can to find places for learners as quickly as possible.”

As of February 6 the department had resolved 120,485 (or 98.8%) of the unique grade 1 and 8 placement applications for the 2023 school year, and was in the process of placing 1,476 (1.2%) of the pupils. 

To keep up with growing pupil numbers, the department has delivered all 662 classrooms scheduled to be completed by January 31. This includes rapid school-build projects, such as Saxonsea Junior High School which was constructed in just 65 working days. 

Maynier said the remainder of the 842 classrooms announced last year are on track for delivery by the March 31 deadline.

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