Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News- 2013-04-17

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) believes that all children, no matter their background, have the right to quality basic education in the public sector. As a result MEC for Gauteng Education, Barbara Creecy has started the admission process early to ensure that it’s all systems go, come January 2014.

However queues were massive at schools across Gauteng on Wednesday as parents tried to secure limited placement for their children. Many have been waiting outside schools for days while some have been waiting since the weekend.

In Lenasia it was no different. Radio Islam visited Park Primary where the queue for admissions snaked around the school. Parents braced the cold, camped with blankets, chairs and food supplies at the school from as early as 4:30pm the previous day and slept overnight to ensure they were ahead when admissions were accepted.

There were reports of queue numbers being duplicated by Park Primary where numbers were being issued by the security guard at the gate as parents entered and by a SGB member. But this was dispelled by the principal Shaukat Khan who said that no preference was given to anybody waiting in the queue and that if a person left the line to go home to get rest, he/she would lose their position.

Meanwhile at Lenz High the queuing was more coordinated. Deputy principle Arshad Manga told Radio Islam that when a number was issued to a parent, the parent would still be eligible to that number if they went home and came back to the school in the morning.

Lenz High also opened the hall for parents queuing so that there would be some shelter for those that had to brace the cold during their overnight stay. Park Primary on the other hand did not open the hall for queuing parents. “Well, basically we just thought that if parents go into the hall, there will be no system in terms of how they are entering, for that reason it was the decision by the school governing body not to open it. So let’s leave it at that,” said Khan.

From this week until 17 May 2013, parents are urged to go to their nearest school to pick up application forms for learners who want to enroll for Grade 1 or Grade 8 in a Gauteng school for 2014. Schools will only accept completed application forms from 17 April 2013 to 21 May 2013.