The Gauteng department of education has been slapped with a letter of demand for failure to place 162 pupils in schools. The group are from The Hill High School near Rosettenville and at Sir John Adamson High School in Robertsham – both in Johannesburg's southern suburbs.
The affected pupils, who are in grades, 8, 9 and 10, could not secure placement last year through online application for the current academic year. The department placed them at the two schools early this year, but not as fully registered pupils but as people in transit. During that time the group at The Hill was taught from the school's tuckshop while the Sir John Adamson were housed in the school hall.
But after schools reopened following the declaration of the lockdown in March, the pupils were left in limbo as the schools couldn't accommodate them anymore. The two schools needed more space to practice social distancing as per Covid-19 regulations, which meant the places the unplaced pupils used were no longer available.
Disgruntled parents last week served the department of demand, accusing it of not being helpful about finding places in schools for their children.
The letter from Macgregor-Erasmus Attorneys, dated August 26 2020 and addressed to the education MEC and the head of department, indicates that early this year their client, Siphosethu Krakra, and other parents met with district officials and teachers to discuss the availability of places for approximately 162 pupils. The parents sought schools for pupils between grade 8 and 10 in the southern suburbs of Meredale, Naturena, Ridgeway and others.
“The grade 8 learners that were placed at Sir John [Adamson] High School were provided a hall and despite large number of learners, the department only made available three teachers for them. This means learners were missing out on some of the subjects. The learners placed at The Hill High School's old tuck shop were forced to use a different entrance to that of The Hill High School learners and they were not allowed to use the ablution facilities and the toilets they were using were blocked ...” read the letter.
According to the letter, during lockdown the department and the school did not provide the pupils with any work to complete at home.
“On August 12, the principal of President High School [in Ridgeway, also southern Johannesburg] advised that he is willing to accommodate learners for three tears but the department should approve the necessary budget in order for him to be able to extend the classes and accommodate the additional learners. However, the department has not approved the budget. We submit that the future of 162 learners referred to above is greatly being prejudiced by the department’s failure to find an adequate solution despite being given alternatives,” read the letter.
Krakra, a parent of a grade 8 pupil, said the department was given until Friday last week to respond.
“An e-mail was sent to them and there was no response, so we served them by hand and they had till Friday to respond. So, we will serve the department with summons hoping to take them to court this week. We can't dice with the future of our children,” she said.
Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona confirmed that they received the letter of demand.
“Our team is interacting with all stakeholders to resolve the matter,” Mabona said.
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