Our children need guidance and luck

Once all the laughs, tears and excitement that go hand in hand with the first school day of the year dies down, you quickly realise how far our children still have to go.

According to the Gauteng education department, it registered 290 757 pupils for Grades 1 and 8 in the province on Wednesday, with 1 394 pupils not placed.

The department insists it will place all the remaining children over the next few days as the online admissions system admittedly is still not completely without its problems. One child not placed correctly is one too many, but on the face of it, the system seems to be getting better.

Even for all the Grade 1 pupils who were correctly placed at schools across the province, that’s where their long journey starts.

PICTURES: Happiness, stress, drama on first day of school

A successful school career over 12 years does not guarantee them work after matric due to the high levels of unemployment, while further studies at tertiary institutions is also no sure thing when it comes to securing a job.

Add in overcrowding in the classrooms – an issue Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga insists they will overcome – and vandalism at schools, and you have to feel for the next generation of scholars.

Our children need all the guidance – and luck – they can get.

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