DA calls on MEC Lesufi to resolve all admission appeals before schools reopen on 15 January

11 January 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng calls on the Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi to resolve the 2020 admission appeals as a matter of urgency.

There are hundreds of parents of Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners who have appealed to the department with regards to their children’s admissions for the 2020 school year but they have as yet received any responses from the department.

Replying to the DA oral questions in December, MEC Lesufi has committed to finalize all appeals within 21 days but this has not succeeded as there are more than 2000 learners who are still waiting for their appeals to be finalized.

The slow pace of the department in dealing with admission appeals is extremely frustrating for parents who do not know whether their children will be enrolled for the 2020 academic year.

Most of the parents that have submitted appeals have not yet started preparing their children for the reopening of schools on the 15 January as they don’t know the schools to which their children will be allocated.

The DA urges MEC Lesufi to work around the clock in finalising all admissions appeals before schools reopen so that parents can buy school uniforms and budget for their children’s transport.

We cannot have a situation whereby some learners do not start schooling with their peers on the first day of the academic year due to delays in the finalisation of admissions appeals.

The DA will be monitoring the process of the finalisation of all admissions appeals to ensure that all learners commence schooling when schools reopen.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, 11 January 2020