Johannesburg - Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says the province is “under siege” from parents applying late for admission.
Schools across the country opened on Wednesday for the 2019 academic year and Lesufi said on Tuesday that his department received 300 000 online applications before the closing date and 266 000 pupils had already been placed.
He said the department was now struggling to place over 16 138 Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils in schools because of outstanding supporting documents.
“We can confirm there are 16 000 parents who did not submit documents, but they indeed qualified for placement.
“We removed their children and placed them on the reserve list,” Lesufi said.
He said in areas like Tshwane South, they had to shut down the district office as parents were intimidating employees and demanding that their children be placed in schools.
The department has received 24 228 late applications.
Lesufi said: “If you come to the department for the first time today (Wednesday) and expect your child to sit at a desk and to be taught by a teacher tomorrow (Thursday), it is practically impossible.”
He assured parents that learners who have still not be placed will not miss out on school.
“We encourage schools not to hold exams or tests in the first two weeks so that learners who come late are not disadvantaged.
“Parents must not panic if their child is not attending school tomorrow (Thursday), we are working hard to attend to those issues,” Lesufi said.
While parents are encouraged to use the online system for late applications, Lesufi said district offices will allow walk-ins for manual applications until month end.