News24.com | Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane | We can't just scrap online admission system. Here is why

Admissions to schools is a delicate balance between parental choice, based on feeder zones, and the availability of schools or classrooms, writes the author.

A lack of schools and classrooms are the ultimate obstacle to placing learners, rather than the online system, writes Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane.

In the recent past, the spotlight was focused on admissions to public schools across Gauteng. This was also because some parents were shuttling around seeking space for their children, including those who applied late. The right to education is dependent on having access to a school or a learning facility.

For this reason, the administration of admissions to schools is a key tool as it is based on feeder zones and the right to access a school in the vicinity of the child's home and applies only to Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners. 

While most learners were successfully placed on time, problems that were faced by some parents, while legitimate, do not warrant the scrapping of the online admission system. The department spared no efforts to support parents and ensure children are placed in schools. All pupils, including late applicants have been placed in Grade 1 and 8. 

However, the department is struggling to place learners in the other grades. This currently remains a school-based application and placement process.

Distorted picture

However, the commentary, especially from the mainstream media, portrayed a distorted picture of the challenges of providing learning and teaching spaces. Specifically, it was argued that bureaucratic bundling and inefficiency were the main factors behind learners being placed in schools. From this flows the recommendation to scrap the online admission system for grades 1 and 8 because it is claimed that it frustrates parents.

If only matters were that simple. Of course, there are areas that require attention, such as proper communication with parents when they seek clarity on the status of application.

The demand for schooling is a function of several factors. These include the availability of spaces/classrooms; language; demographic changes; learner performance, and socio-economic factors. Improving administrative efficiency will improve citizen satisfaction but on its own will not remove these binding constraints. This is not an excuse, but a hard reality facing the department.

On the demographic front, Gauteng has surpassed KwaZulu-Natal as the biggest concentration of the South African population. The demographic shift pronounced itself in various ways. The Gauteng education system grows annually by 2.5%, or a net increase of 65 000 learners per annum. To this must be added inward migration from other provinces and countries into Gauteng.

READ | Five years after its launch, Gauteng's online school application system still has issues

The black majority has moved into former white, coloured, and Indian communities, yet the schools in these areas were not designed to accommodate large number of learners. Gauteng is also a cosmopolitan place and communities are multilingual, and schools must cater for different language options. Single-medium schools spawned by apartheid planning in townships and suburbs are not viable in the long run as this will run out of an adequate number of learners to constitute a school.

Still, 75% of African learners remain in township schools and schools in former Indian and coloured areas have 50% African learners.

The combined effect of the demographic change is an overwhelming demand for learning spaces or classrooms in a supply-constrained situation. More schools and classrooms are required to deal with historical backlog and meet new demand in the province. One estimate predicts that over 100 new schools are required in the province to address the current demand. On this front, the department is chasing a moving target. 

It is the lack of schools and classrooms which are the ultimate obstacle to placing learners rather than the online system. 

New capacity needed 

Several interventions are being implemented to increase the number of classrooms, but unless new capacity is added, admission to Gauteng schools will remain an annual challenge. In the interim, money has been transferred to schools, especially in historical townships and suburbs to build additional classrooms.

In addition, mobile classrooms are being manufactured and deployed to schools, unfortunately at a slower pace than anticipated.

It is now accepted that the economic situation in the country is tight. This has seen many parents taking their children out of independent/private schools to public schools. Parents that can no longer afford fees at independent or private schools have submitted applications for in-between grades to many public schools. It is still hard to find spaces for these learners in schools.

Admissions to schools is a delicate balance between parental choice, based on feeder zones, and the availability of schools or classrooms. Many schools in Gauteng reach capacity within the first day of placement. To illustrate the point, say a school can accept 200 learners, but 1 000 parents apply to the school, the surplus of 800 learners should be accommodated elsewhere. Placement of the 200 also depends on whether all learners in the school are promoted to the next grade. 

Under these circumstances, it is not possible to accommodate all learners in this school, and the department is obliged to find and offer an alternative. Some parents accept the alternative, while some reject these options for a variety of reasons. A parent can object or lodge an appeal, and these succeed only if the school or officials did not follow the admission prescript.

However, the department would have fulfilled its obligation to offer placement, but if this is rejected, it is now incumbent on the parent to find a suitable school. We have also observed some negative practices where parents buy or obtain addresses close to the school of choice while not residing in the feeder zone.

Thus, admission into public schools, especially, for the highly demanded grades 1 and 8, is a function of many factors. The silent majority can attest to the efficacy of the online system in processing applications and placing learners in schools. This is not to dismiss the legitimate concerns of parents seeking placement but to provide more information on the real binding constraints affecting admissions to schools.

It is also not an excuse for the department to do nothing. In fact, the department is exploring different methods to accelerate the building of new schools and to add more learning spaces. Unfortunately, the infrastructure budget is insufficient due to economic constraints but soldier on, we will.

- Matome Chiloane is the MEC for Education in Gauteng.

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