With just a day left until the reopening of schools, three provinces are racing against time to allocate thousands of pupils space.
Schools will reopen on Wednesday in inland provinces – Gauteng, North West, Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
The departments of education in North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga said thousands of pupils in grades 1 and 2 still need to be placed in schools across their respective provinces.
In North West, there are still 2,617 pupils who have not been placed. Mpumalanga is sitting at 1,371 while Gauteng has 1,465 pupils who remain unplaced.
This has left many parents frustrated, with those who spoke to Sowetan saying they have been seeking assistance from the district offices but have not been helped.
They are worried about their children's future.
A frustrated Laurel Maluleka, 28, said she had applied for space for her 13-year-old brother at Soshanguve East High School, northern Pretoria.
"I applied online and submitted all the required documents. After three days, the system said I had not submitted the documents. I went to the schools and was referred to the district where I was told the problem was with our surnames which did not correspond. I was told that they were not sure if I had not stolen the child.
"I explained that the person who had the same surname as him passed away two months back and they said I should bring her death certificate in January but there are no guarantees that I will get space," she said.
Maluleka said she can't even buy uniform and stationery at the moment.
"Last year, the same thing happened to my daughter who ended up repeating grade R as she did not get placement at schools," she said.
Lerato Msimango said she applied at the same school where her other child is attending but was turned down.
"The school is in the same street as my house and a walking distance. I submitted my lease, proof of address and bank statement both at the school and online. The system kept on saying I should upload my documents until I decided to go to the district.
"The offers that were available are very far and transport will be a challenge. I will go to the district again on Wednesday to try my luck," she said.
Msimango said she is unemployed and survives by doing odd jobs.
"The school fees at the school in my area is R500 but the department has offered me a space in schools where I will have to pay R1,300 or R1,500. On top of that I will still have to pay transport for my son which is too much for me," she said.
Last year, Gauteng saw a group of 60 parents frequenting education district offices in Florida, western Johannesburg, over the non-placement of pupils who were mostly in grade 8.
Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona said officials were implementing means of providing necessary support to schools to ensure that the 1,465 applicants were accommodated in due course.
Mabona said to deal with the pressure of placement in high pressure districts, the department is investing in more classrooms.
"We have transferred over R240m to schools for the construction of classrooms. These funds will enable the construction of 229 classrooms in identified primary schools and 270 classrooms in identified high schools," Mabona said.
He said it was important to note that the department has also identified more than 17,000 applicants who did not submit all the necessary supporting documents to their applied school(s) or upload it on the system during the allocated time period.
Mabona said these are deemed unsuccessful applications. However, the system is currently open for them to upload and choose available schools.
Mabona said the department has also prioritised the finalisation of 866 appeals received since the placement period commenced last year.
"These appeals are the result of applicants who could not be placed at their desired school and objected placement at an alternative school provided. Outcomes will be communicated to all applicants latest by today."
He said the late registration process will commence on Wednesday.
North West education spokesperson Elias Malindi said the districts were busy working on finding alternative places for the pupils.
"No pupil will be left behind when the schools reopen on Wednesday," he said.
Mpumalanga education spokesperson Jasper Zwane said each district has an admission team who are working closely with parents and schools to ensure placements.
"The department will use the 10 days of schools' reopening to finalise all issues related to admissions and provisioning of the required resources," he said.
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