Cape Town - As the new school year starts on Wednesday, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said 99.2% of its Grade 1 and 8 pupils had been placed in schools.
According to the WCED, it has 35 872 teachers and 7 578 public service staff returning to schools to prepare for over 1.2 million pupils.
It further stated all top-up textbooks ordered by schools were delivered by October 2022, costing the department R62 million, stationery supplies to the value of R39 million, furniture to the value of R50 million and other equipment valued at R1.6 million were also delivered in December.
“We are currently implementing an unprecedented school infrastructure delivery programme, and the results are speaking for themselves.
“We have already completed 561 classrooms for the first day of school as a result of work continuing through the traditional builders’ holiday, with the remaining classrooms underway, to be completed in the coming weeks.
“To put this into perspective, 212 additional classrooms were completed in time for the opening of the 2023 school year,” the WCED said.
Alternative arrangements have been made to accommodate pupils while the final touches on additional classrooms are completed.
This includes the use of alternative rooms within the schools temporarily, such as computer labs and halls.
The department said it was also looking at external venues where necessary, and in a small number of cases, schools will be implementing rotating timetables to ensure pupils can be accommodated.
“We appeal to communities to support us in delivering the new schools and classrooms we will need, and I thank all the officials, government partners, contractors and school staff who are working tirelessly to get the job done.
“We would also like to thank the residents in the surrounding communities for their support during the construction period.
“This has been a tremendous group effort and demonstrates just what we can achieve in our province and in our country when everyone is working toward the same goal of providing quality education for all of our children,” the WCED said.
As of January 14, the WCED has resolved 117 844 or 99.2% of Grade 1 and Grade 8 placement requests for the 2023 school year and are in the process of placing 955 or 0.8% of Grade 1 and 8 pupils for the 2023 school year.
“This is an incredible achievement compared to recent years, with our officials and schools having placed 50 844 more Grade 1 and 8 pupils than on this date last year. We are in the best possible position to kick off the school year given the high demand for placement.
“Our officials and schools have done a phenomenal job under extreme pressure to make sure that they find a place for every child. We are leaving no stone unturned in our effort to place every pupil, and we will continue to work to finalise placement for all remaining pupils,” the WCED said.
While this may be good news, the department said education in the province is still under severe admission pressure.
It said over the past seven years, an average of 21 000 pupils from outside the Western Cape have been registered in the Western Cape for the first time each year.
The department said schools are full, and it will be a struggle to place additional pupils for whom extremely late applications were received.
It has received over 25 000 late applications.
“We have received 25 212 late applications for Grade 1 and 8 (after April 15, 2022) this year, including 272 extremely late applications received after schools closed on December 15, 2022.
“We expect to receive many more once schools reopen. It is very difficult to place pupils at this extremely late stage, and parents arriving now must be prepared for a delay in the placement of their children.
“It is for this reason that we continue to urge parents to apply on time for their children. We need to know who will need place and where so that we can make plans in advance to accommodate them,” the WCED said.
The department has urged parents who have not applied for placement for their child to do so immediately at the Education District Office.
Parents are urged not to queue outside schools with the expectation of being accepted into their school of choice.
“Our schools are full, and while they may be able to assist with completing applications, the district office will assist with placement centrally.
“We understand that the placement process can cause frustration, but we are doing everything we can to find places for pupils as quickly as possible.
“We ask that parents and organisations act responsibly when approaching our schools and district offices,” it added.
IOL