The department had received new, extremely late applications for 9 289 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners since January 1, 2025 for the school year. FILE
THE Western Cape Education Department (WCED) says placement is in progress for 848 of the almost 10 000 extremely late applications received for Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners.
The department had received new, extremely late applications for 9 289 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners since January 1, 2025 for the school year, Education MEC David Maynier said.
“We ask for patience as we make progress in placing these extremely late applicants, as we could not predict where and when these late applicants would arrive. This has made planning our resource allocation in advance extremely difficult.
“It will take some time to redirect resources to cater for these learners, and this is currently underway. We are leaving no stone unturned in our effort to place every learner, and we will continue to work to finalise placement for all remaining learners.”
As of February 7, 2025, the department had resolved 131 800 or 98.8% of the unique Grade 1 and Grade 8 placement applications for the 2025 school year, and was in the process of placing 1 586, or 1.2%, of the Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners for the 2025 school year. This includes late and extremely late applications received as recently as the past week.
Of the on-time applicants that applied up to 12 April 2024, placement was still in progress for 430 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners.
“One of the key reasons for not being able to place these learners on our system is that their parents and caregivers are uncontactable. This may be a result of their contact details changing since making the original application and not informing us of the change, or they are not responding to our enquiries. It is therefore unclear how many of these parents may have either found placement in independent institutions or other provinces. We will continue to prioritise these learners as far as possible,” Maynier said.
Maynier added that despite severe budget constraints, the WCED has completed 283 new classrooms in January 2025, including new schools in Lwandle, Wallacedene, Blue Downs, Philippi, Delft and Darling.
A further three new schools are scheduled for completion in March, and additional mobile classrooms will also be deployed to schools in the coming weeks.
“We are also adding up to 477 new growth teaching posts for our new schools and schools that have taken in a significant number of additional learners,” Maynier said.
Cape Times
Related Topics: