SAHRC worried about pupils not being placed at schools

12 January 2017

Cape Town - Reports of a high number of children who have not yet been placed in schools in the Western Cape and Gauteng is concerning, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Thursday.

"Children have a constitutional right to basic education," said Advocate André Gaum, a human rights commissioner overseeing the portfolio.

The commission called for urgent measures to be put in place after reports of severe school shortages and thousands of pupils not being accommodated.

More than 18 000 pupils between Grades 1 and 12 had not yet been placed in Western Cape schools, provincial education MEC Debbie Schafer said on Wednesday.

She said the provincial education department would meet its legal responsibility to place them all as soon as possible.

In Gauteng, the number of pupils who still needed to be placed had dropped from 58 000 on Monday to 40 000, said Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Wednesday.

He said the department was hoping to clear the 40 000 backlog by the end of February, so as to limit the disruption of the academic programme.

The SAHRC would monitor the situation while keeping in contact with the relevant authorities.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.