Nearly 900 grade one, three and eight learners in the Northern Cape‘s Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts are yet to be placed in schools in the province.
This as schools re-open on Wednesday for the 2018 academic year.
The learners form the bulk of about 1500 learners across all grades still needing placement in the province. The Northern Cape Department of Education says it has received more than 20 000 applications in the two districts alone.
Hundreds of parents and learners gathered at the provincial Department of Education’s district office on Monday in an effort to find placement for their children. Some parents were there to apply for the first time while others finalising applications they have already made. The parents at the district office expressed frustration at the application process.
Education MEC Martha Bartlett has appealed for patience from parents while the department eases the backlog in applications. “What we saying is that we are still sitting with parents who applied in time and from next week , we will look into others that only applied now last week and parents who are coming from other provinces or wherever that want now to place their children,” says Bartlett.
The Department says it will add two mobile classrooms for grade one learners in two schools in Kimberley and increase classroom numbers in high schools for grade eight pupils as a contingency plan.
