Department of Education fails parents in Secunda
Parents are despondent after receiving no help.
Some Grade Eight learners still had no school to attend as there was no space at local high schools at the start of February. From the middle of January, parents desperately seeking placement for their children at high schools lined up at the Department of Education (DoE), but were left without answers.
Employees at the department failed to provide answers, and some parents living in Secunda were told their children had to attend schools in eMbalenhle.
However, in eMbalenhle, the situation appeared even worse, as some parents claimed there were as many as 85 children in one class.
Joseph Letebele was still looking for a space in a high school for his child as of February 6. DoE employees told him many times to return, and so he had to take time off work at least seven times. During at least four of these visits, he was told that the manager he needed to speak to was in a meeting in Ermelo.
He had enrolled his child at the Highveld Park High School and the Evander High School last September, when applications opened, and was told his child would be put on a waiting list.
ALSO READ: Old man allegedly shoots neighbour in dispute over water in Eloff
He visited the DoE for the first time in January to enquire about space at the schools and was told there was space for his child at the Thistle Grove Combined School.
“My child stays with his mother, 3km from the Highveld Park High School, so why must he catch a bus to Kinross?” asked Letebele.
The Ridge Times contacted four people at the Department of Education for comment, but the phones rang unanswered, WhatsApp messages were read but not replied to, and emails were returned undelivered.
Letebele heard on February 6 from a friend who visited the DoE’s offices in Ermelo, which serve as Secunda’s head office, that all nine learners still waiting for space had been placed.
“My child was not placed,” said Letebele.
He sought legal advice and is considering approaching the Human Rights Commission to lay a complaint against the DoE.
