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Schools compelled to adhere to new admission policy: Lesufi

Learners and a teacher
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The Gauteng Education department says all schools are compelled to adhere to the new admission policy and regulations as per the order of the Constitutional Court. The new admission regulations are an attempt to eliminate exclusion of learners from accessing certain schools due to their geographical location that is a product of the apartheid era.

Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi , told the media in Johannesburg on Sunday that schools are compelled to submit new admission policies to the Head of Department as they prepare for the next round of online registration for the 2020 academic year.

Lesufi says they want learners to have equal access.

“The new regulations are not discriminatory. I want to emphasise that point. If they want to use say Afrikaans as a language for that school the HOD will check whether new demographics around that area, does it include people that speak that language. If indeed it’s still predominantly Afrikaans the HOD will authorise that Afrikaans should be the medium. But if there is a new community, a new informal settlement or new townhouses there, you can’t continue to behave as if it’s still in the days of dromedaries.”

Meanwhile, Lesufi says he accepts the criticism that his department has failed to communicate on time with parents regarding online registration. The online registration process was introduced in 2016 and was heavily criticised by parents who complained that it was not user friendly.

“We have noted criticism from some parents that the online system does not work to the extent that the department failed to communicate on time with the parents on the status of their application. For that we accept that criticism. But reality is that online application is an exciting, innovative, creative system that ensures equity, transparency and also provide the department with an opportunity to utilise its resources optimally.”

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