Picky parents blamed for scramble as schools reopen

Provincial education departments are scrambling to find places for thousands of pupils as state schools reopen on Monday for the first term of the year.

The departments have blamed the placement delays on parents' insistence in choosing only schools that were already full.

The number of pupils who are yet to be placed, according to figures supplied to the Sunday Times, include:

• Limpopo: 5,061;
• Western Cape: 8,336; and
• Free State: 2,917.

Gauteng's education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, indicated on Friday that 2,404 pupils have not yet been placed.

The Northern Cape department said that all pupils in the Namakwa and Pixley ka Seme districts have been placed while placements in the remaining three districts were expected to be completed today.

The department said in a statement that a significant number of applications for placement at schools were from pupils who were already at a school where the next grade was being offered.

"These school-hoppers will only be allowed to move from their school to another school if spaces are available."

A Limpopo education department spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene, said that certain schools were "oversubscribed" because parents believed these were the top-performing institutions.

She said that the department planned to have primary-school pupils attending "on as many days as possible".

The department planned to redeploy teachers who were declared surplus at their schools to fill vacancies left by 157 teachers who had died of Covid-related complications since March last year.

A total of 128 teachers with comorbidities have been allowed to work from home.

Chuene said schools would have to use their annual allocation from the department to buy sanitiser and Covid-19 essentials.

Western Cape education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said while pupils in all grades were expected to return tomorrow, "schools may implement revised timetables and some grades may attend on alternating days".

A total of 2,200 teachers with comorbidities have been granted permission to work from home in the Western Cape.

Gauteng pupils not yet placed

—  2,404

Hammond said that all schools, including former Model C schools, have been supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE).

"Last year the department provided over R450m worth of safety materials to schools, including masks, sanitiser and cleaning materials."

She said that the last delivery took place in November and that some schools had reported having "too much" safety materials.

She said that the department sent additional funding to primary schools at the end of last year "to augment any PPE shortages".

teachers with comorbidities have been granted permission to work from home in the Western Cape

—  2,200

Free State education spokesman Howard Ndaba said that in Bloemfontein there was a demand from especially black middle-class parents to enrol their children at former Model C schools.

"Our responsibility is to make sure that no child is not at school. The only thing we cannot guarantee is offering a parent a school of their choice. Parents say I want this school or nothing."

He said that schools had been given until Wednesday to finalise the list of teachers with comorbidities.

He said that grade 11 and 12 pupils would attend school daily.

Our responsibility is to make sure that no child is not at school

—  Howard Ndaba, Free State education spokesperson 

School exams assurer Umalusi is expected to make an announcement tomorrow on whether two of last year's matric exams were fair after papers were leaked.

It will also say whether marks for subjects were kept the same or adjusted upwards or downwards.

On Friday, the department of basic education presented the irregularities report to Umalusi.

The report contained the names of pupils who were implicated in the leaking of the maths paper 2 and physical science paper 2.

Education minister Angie Motshekga will make a statement today on schools' readiness and the regulations for returning pupils and teachers.