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- Provincial Education Minister David Maynier says his department is fighting to place learners despite massive budget cuts.
- Maynier said officials and contractors have worked throughout the holiday period to ensure they expanded the number of places available for learners whose applications were received, and prepare for the expected late applications received since 1 January.
- He said classroom expansions are in progress or completed at dozens of existing schools.
Provincial Education Minister David Maynier says his department is fighting to place learners despite massive budget cuts.
“We are doing all we can to build new schools at a faster rate than ever before through our Rapid School Build programme,” said in a media statement, “despite a massive R716,4 million blow to our education budget in the Western Cape.”
Maynier said officials and contractors have worked throughout the holiday period to ensure they expanded the number of places available for learners whose applications were received, and prepare for the expected late applications received since 1 January.
Infrastructure
“We are building 10 new schools and three replacement schools for learners in the 2024 school year,” he said, “and we are currently putting the finishing touches on our new junior high schools in Belhar, Fisherhaven and Kwanokuthula as part of our Rapid School Build programme, which delivers high-quality schools at an impressive rate.
“Following over a year of being blocked from construction by criminal activity, we have laid the foundations at the Blueridge site, where we are building a new primary and high school for the community of Wallacedene.”
He said classroom expansions are in progress or completed at dozens of existing schools. “Some have committed their own funding to expand the number of places available in their schools.”
Admissions
Before schools closed on 12 December last year, the department announced 99,43% of the learners for whom applications were received for Grade 1 and 8 for the 2024 school year had been allocated places. “Since that date, and while schools have been closed for the holidays, we have received new applications for learners whose parents had not previously applied, and we anticipate receiving many more in the coming weeks,” Maynier said.
The department received 609 new late applications in the first 10 days of January. Placement is currently in progress for 2 636 Grade 1 and 8 learners.
Maynier said placements could not be finalised while schools were closed. The process could only resume on Monday 15 January when schools opened for teachers. “The next key date in the admissions calendar is the 10th day Snap survey, which is critically important for two reasons: it will indicate where there are still spaces available for learners needing a place, and it will allow us to allocate resources to accommodate the extremely late applications we are receiving more effectively and will still receive.”
Late applications
Maynier said the challenge with extremely late applications is that they do not know how many new applications will be received, where placement will be required, the grades, language and ages of the learners and details of specific subjects and specialised needs of the learners. “We ask for patience as we make progress in placing these extremely late applicants. We cannot predict where and when these late applicants will arrive, and this has made planning our resource allocation in advance extremely difficult. We urge any parent who has not yet applied for the 2024 school year to do so immediately at their education district office.”
Visit www.wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/contact/districts for details of district offices.
