On Wednesday, schools opened for the 2026 academic year. But in Gauteng, there are pupils who are yet to be placed. Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane doesn’t know the pain of having your child stay at home while other kids are going to school. I doubt if Chiloane even cares about the pain these parents feel.
One parent wrote on social media that her child is yet to be placed. Instead, the parent has been told by the district to come after 10 days. That’s a long time. Meanwhile, the poor pupil is crying nonstop. He doesn’t understand why he is at home while his peers are at school.
Every January, Gauteng faces the challenge of pupils who are not placed by the department. When parents of the affected pupils go to Chiloane’s office, they are told to go to their respective district offices. Yet, the MEC’s office is the one that places pupils in schools. It’s a merry-go-round.
A few years ago, the DA in Gauteng took the department to court to scrap the online application system. The court, in its wisdom, ruled in favour of the department. The department should accept that the online application system is not working. It’s time it scrapped the online system and reverted to the old system. – Thabile Mange
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