No space for Grade R pupils
WHILE there are no longer places available in the Province for Grade R pupils, the Northern Cape MEC for Education, Martha Bartlett, will visit Newton Primary School and Northern Cape High School today to assess their readiness as the new academic year kicks off.
Department spokesperson, Geoffrey van der Merwe, said that Bartlett, who will be accompanied by other officials, would also assess whether there were still available spaces for the more than 800 pupils who are still seeking placement in the Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts.
“Departmental officials will visit various schools to do a headcount of pupils at the ‘hot spot’ schools and to determine the number of spaces still available. Our immediate focus is to place pupils who applied last year. We will only be able to attend to late admissions that were received during this year by next week.
“We can confirm that we have no spaces available for Grade R pupils in our public ordinary schools and we encourage parents to enrol their children at community-based sites,” Van der Merwe said yesterday.
Earlier this week, the department indicated that there were more than 200 Grade R pupils who still needed to be placed at schools.
Yesterday, Van der Merwe stated that of the 152 appeals received, 50 of these were for Grade R.
Meanwhile, the department has given parents the assurance that Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils who have still not been allocated places at schools, would be accommodated at schools where space was still available.
In an attempt to address the influx of pupils in need of admission to schools, the department said it had sent mobile classrooms to Vooruitsig and West End primary schools in Kimberley, where the bulk of the Grade 1 pupils would be accommodated.
He said that each school had been provided with two mobile classrooms.
“We can confirm that Vooruitsig Primary School and West End Primary School will each receive two mobile classrooms for Grade 1 pupils. The contractor is on site, preparing to transport and assemble the mobile classrooms. Whilst the mobile classrooms are being erected, the Grade 1 pupils will be accommodated in existing classrooms at these schools,” Van der Merwe said.
He added that the department was also busy with the appeals from parents whose children were still in need of space at schools. “We appeal to parents to assist us with the speedy placement of their children.”
Van der Merwe said the department was still working hard at placing all pupils in schools.
“The department is still working around the clock to place the outstanding 869 pupils seeking placement at public ordinary schools in the Frances Baard and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts, where we are experiencing the highest pupil enrolment.
“This number has decreased from the initial 1 519 pupils who needed to be placed in schools since December 2017.”
Van der Merwe added that the department has identified two centres to assist in the placement process of pupils.
“We have identified the Frances Baard District Office and the John Taolo Gaetsewe District Office to assist parents with the placement of pupils. These centres commenced with their operations on January 15 (Monday). This was specifically done to curb the unnecessary loss of valuable teaching and learning time at our schools.”