PHUTI MOSOMANE
THE first day of the 2023 academic year for grade 8 learners in Ponelopele Oracle Secondary school, in Midrand Gauteng were characterised by tensions between school principal and some parents.
The school has capacity to enrol 900 with only 24 classrooms which takes in between 35 to 40 learners but has already enrolled 1484 learners admitted in the school.
Through the Online Admissions system, the school has accepted 209 new Grade 8 learners, and the Department of Basic Education through the district has transferred additional 136 learners who have applied on time and met all requirements.Â
On the first day of schools reopening on Wednesday, there were no signs of mobile classrooms or a plan in place by the school to cater the 136 learners who received SMS notifications last year December that they have been “successfully placed through transfer”.
The principal of the school addressed angry parents who went to school on Monday and were told to return on Wednesday for updates on learners who were transferred by the department.
But on Wednesday, parents were frustrated because there was new information except that the school now has a bigger number of learners who were told to come to the school.
“My experience has been a nightmare since Monday. I registered my child last year and I got an SMS that said my child was accepted into the school. To my surprise on Monday when I got here I was told she is not accepted but placed through a transfer. I have siblings, and I was told to go to the police station to certify documents which I did,” a parent Comfort Makhadi, reveled to Inside Education.
Makhadi said as a parent, she is upset because the principal instead of giving feedback he told them that there is no space and only today he was going to call the department of education.
“The principal said to us, being placed through transfer means there is no space in the school, but I have already bought the uniform and stationery because the SMS said my child has been successfully placed through parent transfer,” she said, adding that this is the only school she was offered despite applying to multiple schools.
Makhadi said she applied on time and is hopeful that the department of education will assist the school in making more spaces available.
Another parent Jabulani Mbese told Inside Education that he came to the school as soon as he received an SMS last confirming placement to verify and I was told that my child was placed through transfer.Â
Mbese: “I was told to bring a school report and go buy a uniform which I did. I was disappointed when I heard the principal saying that he will not take learners placed through transfer. How possible is it that the district would transfer our kids to his school, and he is telling us he can’t take them?”
Mbese urged the department to change the system because every year parents go through the same challenges.
Roots of confusion
Some parents are saying the online system has always worked, the issue lies in the messaging from the auto generated ”offer status”.
The school has taken in learners whose parents received a message that said ”accepted as final” and not those who received a message that said ”your learner has been placed through parent transfer”.
In simple terms, “the ‘offer status’ that said ‘accepted as final’ meant that the placements were made within the school capacity, and those placed through ‘parent transfer’ represents a decision of the department irrespective of whether there is a space or not- hence there are problems,” one educator who preferred not to be name tells me.
During the COVID-19 period, the school enrolled 1449 learners because the rotational system made it possible to accommodate more.
MEC Matome Chiloane said townships are the backbone of the public education system in the Gauteng province but the growing number of overcrowded classes means educators will not be able to give each student equal attention.
SADTU secretariat officer Xolani Fakude said the trade union has been getting reports about the Online admission system.
“We are getting reports of admission challenges especially in provinces where an online system is used. The intention may have been good in terms of increasing accessibility. However, the very same method is beginning to be an inhibitor of sorts. We are receiving reports of learners who have not been placed,” Fakude said.
The teacher unions said they want to see teaching and learning on the first day of schooling but there are “overcrowded classrooms and mobile classrooms that must still be put in some schools in Gauteng.”
Fakude urged the department of education in Gauteng to have a resource plan in place in an effort to solve growing challenges of infrastructure.
Department of education has not responded to questions by the time of publishing this article.
INSIDE EDUCATION
