The department mistakenly sent SMSes to parents across the province to come to the district offices for placement on Sunday, however, parents were frustrated when the district office staff locked themselves inside the building making parents queue outside.
Tensions rose when the South African Police Services were on the scene and the district officials were not assisting the angry parents, as the department had sent the SMSes by mistake. Gauteng MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi made a public apology to the disgruntled parents stating, “I am still shaking and emotionally drained, I don’t think parents should be subjected to those conditions”, said Panyaza.
Furthermore, the public schools that have reached their required number of school pupils include Parktown Girls, Pretoria High school for Girls and Pretoria Boys high, and Northcliff High to name a few, with the schools having received over 1 485 applications while available capacity was under 300.
Parents for school pupils who are left without space for 2020 admissions are given time to apply for school admission until 30th November. The placement process is questioned by parents as to whether it is effective to help place school pupils, considering the confusion and large numbers of grade one and eight pupils who were left without school admission, however, MEC Panyaza has promised that he will enable all district offices to assist and attend to parents.
