Listen: 10 days needed to resolve placement issues - Motshekga
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has pleaded with parents to give the department at least 10 days to resolve placement issues.
More than 21,000 pupils in Gauteng have not been placed in schools for the 2024 academic year, which officially began on Wednesday.
The placement issue in the province has led to some parents camping outside district offices with the hope of finding space for their children.
Speaking at the re-opening of Kgatoentle Secondary School in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, on Wednesday, Motshekga acknowledged that school placements had become a nationwide problem.
"The honest report will only come after 10 days to know if we have been able to replace kids,” the minister said.
"We have a huge annual problem of placement of children. It is not only the MECs' problems.
"I even get embarrassingly rude whenever my phone rings at this time of the year, but we understand that parents are rightfully panicking because their children have not been placed
"It’s a very difficult period, not only in Gauteng. Again we appeal to communities to give us 10 days to identify spaces where we can place kids.”
