Frustrated parents in one of Gauteng’s high-pressure areas are breathing a sigh of relief because their children are going to start high school on Monday following a standoff with the education department.
In another area some parents are still in the dark about where their children will be placed while some attend school once a week on a rotational basis.
While in other areas there are tensions brewing as private school and public schools occupy the same school grounds as the department tries all possible solutions to ensure all children are accommodated.
A total of 170 parents, who refused placement at a satellite school registered as New Kempton Park Secondary in the Ekurhuleni North District, were finally placed at the Dowerglen High School in Edenvale following a meeting with Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane.
Rejecting the placement of their children at New Kempton Park Secondary School, which is on the same grounds as private EASTC Technical School, the parents said the area was not safe for teenagers as prostitution and drug dealing were rife.
EASTC Technical School, which is owned by Ekurhuleni Artisans and Skills Training Centre, is a combined school, which opened this year with just under 200 pupils in grades R to 8. Principal Sheunesu Nyika told Sunday World when it visited the school this week that the plan was to increase the grades as this year’s intake progressed to higher grades.
Construction is still ongoing where New Kempton Park Secondary School is situated. Separated by a metre-high mesh fence, the school is identical to the prefabricated structures of the private school.
The Gauteng department of education had urged parents of the 395 unplaced pupils to accept placement at New Kempton Park Secondary School.
“Regrettably, despite this concerted effort by the department, parents of the unplaced learners in Kempton Park raised safety concerns about the vicinity of this satellite school and are consequently refusing this placement. However, engagements with the parents will continue in a meeting with the MEC scheduled for January 31,” departmental spokesperson Steve Mabona said in a statement.
At the meeting, which was held at nearby Kreft Primary School, about 117 parents told Chiloane that they would rather have their children placed in mobile classrooms in other schools than accept the offer at the new school.
“Our children are teenagers and that environment is toxic. I was offered drugs for free. I’m an adult but they still had the audacity to offer me drugs to try. This is the environment that our children will be exposed to,” said a parent, who refused to be named for fear her child will be victimised.
She said Chiloane told them at the meeting it would not be possible for the department to procure mobile classes.
Another parent, who also refused to be named, and attended the meeting with the MEC, said they were willing for their children to attend school on a rotational basis at other established schools in the area.
“The area is the headquarters of prostitution and drugs. I was shocked to see about 200 girls roaming around the school. There are drug dealers everywhere you look. Our children will not be safe,” he said.
“We don’t have a problem with the satellite school; we have a problem with the area. The MEC came with a convoy of security, we don’t have that luxury for our children,” he said.
On Thursday, Gauteng department of education Mpoku Tau informed the parents that their children would be placed at Dowerglen High School in Edenvale and the department would provide transport.
“I’m glad it did not to get to a point in which we would have been forced to protest for this matter to be resolved,” she said.
“There are 170 of us parents who have been placed at Dowerglen. We are from Birchleigh, Birch Acres, Norkem Park, Terenure, Edleen, Van Riebeck Park and Kempton Park West. This weekend as parents we will assist the department in determining the pick-up points for our children.
“My child will finally start high school tomorrow. He was not coping with not being at school while his friends talked about their new schools.”
In the Tshwane West District parents continued to stream into Amandasig Secondary School to enquire about placements. The department of education said 176 Grade 8 pupils in Pretoria North area were still to be placed.
“This remnant emanates from an initial 223 unplaced learners within our district, of which 47 learners have since been placed at Amandasig Secondary School and are currently attending class on a rotational basis,” Mabona said earlier in the week.
Sunday World established from parents and scholar transport providers that some children who have not yet been placed attend school once a week.
“We don’t even know whether they will be accommodated here at this school or in another school or area altogether. It is frustrating,” said a parent whose child comes from Soshanguve.
The department said the pupils would be accommodated at a satellite school registered as North Park Secondary School. However, the parents Sunday World spoke to did not know the location of the school.
In the Johannesburg West District, the department has placed 396 pupils at a satellite school, which it registered as Robinhood College in Maraisburg in the Roodepoort area.
There is another school, Robin Hood Academy, a private school housed in the same school with about 200 pupils.
The principal of the private school, Lucken Maniram, has confirmed they are also renting their section of the school, which used to be the Crown Christian School from the Grace Bible Church.
He said there had already been some rumblings from concerned parents about the public school being on the same school grounds.
Mabona did not respond to questions sent to him. He referred Sunday World to the statement issued by the department on Monday.
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