Scores of Wallacedene children have not been to school in six months because schools in the area are full.
|||Scores of Wallacedene children have not been to school in six months because schools in the area are full, and residents say the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) hasn’t done anything to help them.
When the Cape Argus visited the area on Thursday, desperate parents who had gathered outside Enkululekweni Primary school lined up to share their stories.
They said every school they had applied to had told them they were full.
Community leaders said the WCED was aware of the problem and an e-mail had been sent to an official in April. They said a meeting with the district director had been held on June 1, but more than a month later the children were still at home.
They had several pages with names of children they said were looking for schools. They estimated that up to 300 children did not have places to learn.
The Young Communist League’s Psyabelo Roto said the community had tried to follow the proper channels, but had not been helped.
Nomfundo Apleni said her Grade 5 son, Athenkosi, arrived from the Eastern Cape in December.
She said she had been looking for a school since the beginning of the year, but all were full.
“I’m very, very worried,” Apleni said.
Eric Mbalela, whose daughter Sisipho is supposed to be in Grade 3, said he had applied at three schools, without success.
Mbalela said his daughter was clever and he was worried about her future should she not find a school soon.
“I just want the Department of Education to help me so that I can find a school for her.”
Community leaders said there were empty mobile classrooms at Wallacedene Primary where the children could be placed, and there was an empty former primary school in the area. Vacant land was also available, they said.
Elsewhere in the area, at resident Nora Tafafene’s home, more than 30 children were being schooled on Thursday.
Some were not yet school-ready, but others were between the ages of six and 10 and had not yet found a school that would enrol them.
She said she could not just send the children away because she didn’t want them to end up on the street.
“If I phone directly to the department, I don’t get any response.”
Millicent Merton, a spokeswoman for the WCED, said the department became aware of the extent of the problem on June 1.
“The area has… been prioritised for additional accommodation to meet the demands of increased enrolment.”
She said the area had seen rapid growth in the last six months and all three primary schools in Wallacedene were full.
The possible use of mobile classrooms at Wallacedene Primary was being investigated.
Tafafene had not contacted the circuit team manager, Merton said.
ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za
Cape Argus