MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Western Cape Education Department district officials are working with parents of Sonskynvallei to place learners in schools as quickly as possible, ministerial spokesperson Jessica Shelver told the Mossel Bay Advertiser.
She said that if learners could not be placed at schools nearby, the district officials would ascertain the feasibility of placement at other schools.
However, it seems none of the parents applied at Mossel Bay high schools for placement of their children.
The spokesperson for the Western Cape MEC for Education, minister Debbie Schafer, provided answers to a number of questions on the problems parents who previously lived in Powertown, but now live in Sonskynvallei, face regarding both school placement and transport for their children.
Shelver said that in terms of policy, the Western Cape Education Department provided transport for learners from poor communities who lived more than five kilometres from their nearest school, and where public transport was not available.
The department does not provide free transport if hostel accommodation is available.
Will the department definitely stop all subsidised transport for learners from Sonskynvallei to Great Brak River?
"Approval was granted in April 2017 for the transport of the learners until the end of the 2017 school year with a request that learners were placed at appropriate schools closer to their homes prior to 2018."
The parents claim that their children can be accommodated in the hostel in Sao Bras High School, but that there is no space available in high schools in Mossel Bay, and/or that the Mossel Bay schools do not offer the subjects their children were taking at Great Brak Secondary.
Is this in fact the case.
"All the high schools in Mossel Bay are full and all the schools have waiting lists. The Education district office is in the process of addressing the problem.
Hillcrest Secondary School does not have any learners from Sonskynvallei on the waiting list.
Sao Bras Secondary School has only one learner in Grade 9 who indicated that his previous school was Great Brak Secondary."
Considering that the department provided transport last year, it should have known the number of learners that had to be accommodated in Mossel Bay schools.
What did the department do to ensure learners involved were accommodated in the respective schools?
Were parents consulted/assisted in transferring the children from one school to the next?
"Yes - the school principals of Great Brak Primary School and High School informed the parents they must apply for places for their children at their closest school for 2018.
Parents have the primary responsibility of applying for admission for their children.
"A meeting was held with education officials from the district (including the director), the principal of Hartenbos Primary School and the mayor of Mossel Bay.
During this meeting, the principal of Hartenbos Primary School gave the assurance that he would be able to place all the learners from Great Brak Primary School who were at that stage being transported from Power Town.
The principals of both the primary and high school in Great Brak Primary School were given instruction to inform the parents that they must apply to the closest school in 2018 because the transport from Sonskynvallei to Great Brak would be terminated at the end of 2017."
Will the department not reconsider its policy on school transport in this regard as the parents can hardly afford the additional costs involved?
"The policy makes provision for extraordinary circumstances outside of the policy, which is subject to the approval of the head: education.
A possible solution would be for the district education officials to ascertain the feasibility of the placement of learners at nearby schools and to apply for the reinstitution of the transport route."
What else can be done to resolve the matter?
"Should the district decide to apply for the reinstitution of this route, the processing thereof will be prioritised and upon obtaining approval, the district office may procure a service on a temporary basis, while the directorate: procurement management enters into a contract with a service provider.
The district office will apply for the reinstitution of the route should the closest school (Hartenbos Primary School) prove to be full."
The department intends to deny learners from Sonskynvallei access to primary schools in Great Brak River, as may be deduced from a letter by a principal sent to parents last week?
"The department did not deny any learner access to Great Brak Primary School."
Following these replies from the Education Department, the department this week disclosed that the following places are available at Hartenbos Primary School: Grade RR: 12 places; Grade 1: 12; Grade 2: 18; Grade 3: 2; Grade 4: 5; Grade 5: 5; Grade 6: 7; and Grade 7: 18.
Mossel Bay mayor, Alderman Harry Levendal, urges parents of learners from Sonskynvallei to apply to Hartenbos Primary School for a place for their children.
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