Cape Town - A non-profit organisation has taken it upon itself to find placement for nearly 21 learners who have yet to be placed into the schooling system while the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) grapples with over 9 000 extremely late applications.

Despite severe budget constraints and 2 407 teachers being cut, the WCED said that as of February 7, they have managed to resolve 131 800 or 98.8% of their unique Grade 1 and Grade 8 placement applications and are in the process of placing 1 586 more learners.

A number of the late placements applications stems from children moving to the Western Cape.

This week, Empowerment Network Solutions founder and former school teacher, Joscelyn Beukes, who has been working for weeks to find placement for more than 21 learners, said she created a WhatsApp group with frustrated parents and made various appeals to district offices, ward councillors and the WCED.

She said they managed to find placement for four learners thus so far, but the sad reality was that children, especially teenagers, found themselves at home and vulnerable to social ills and crime.

“Sadly we are receiving more reports of parents struggling to find placement, currently have close to 50 parents on a WhatsApp group, and therefore appeal on behalf of all on this list,” she said.

“Those not on the list, have not confirmed the information I have on this spreadsheet, and have advised them to submit the requested forms, as per Circular 0038/2024, to the WCED offices.

“We are seeking imperatively urgent clarification on the way forward as its nearing the end of the month and almost the end of the term, pushing the 'falling behind' even further.

“These kids already have a handicap of missing out on much needed teaching time within the classroom.”

MEC for Education, David Maynier, said they received new, extremely late applications for 9 289 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners since January 1 for the 2025 school year.

“Placement is in progress for 848 of these Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners for whom applications were received extremely late,” he explained.

“We ask for patience as we make progress in placing these extremely late applicants.”

Valentino Bok, a parent of a Grade 9 learner, said the family relocated from the Northern Cape for work purposes and tried to place his son at four schools.

“We were told at the one school, that his Mathematics mark was too low while others said they were too full,” he said.

“I am worried about my son being at home because we all know what happens on the streets out there and he has already missed a year of his schooling in the past.”

Another parent, who has a foster child and cannot be identified, said their daughter’s marks began to drop in the last three years due to her being placed elsewhere and that by the end of December 2024, she was registered due to poor attendance at school.

The child has since been placed back into their care and was keen to have her back inside the classroom.

WCED spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond, said not enough clarity was given by parents regarding their status and reasons why children were not at schools and that they were working hard at resolving the issue.

Hammond mentioned some of the cases shared by the NPO and said individuals had not attended school and were deregistered and did not meet requirements for the grades they wished to attend.

“As you can see from the above, the cases brought forward are not all unplaced, or are EXTREMELY LATE, or have unique circumstances attached to them, making it a challenge to place them immediately. The WCED has received the list and will continue to place learners accordingly. We have done well to accommodate over 9 000 extremely late applications over the course of this last month,” she explained.

“The right contact details are also essential in this process and we appeal to parents to contact us should they have changed their details during this period.

“But again, we appeal to parents – DON’T WAIT! – in making their application for the next school year and apply during the admission period in March/April of every year.

Cape Argus