A significant police contingent was deployed to the offices of a district education department on Tuesday morning, as tensions flared among dozens of parents desperately seeking school placements for their children just weeks before the new academic year.
The scene saw at least two police Nyalas and several other vehicles stationed outside the offices, with officers present to, according to reporters on the scene, “quell tensions and calm the parents down.” The crowd, described as “furious” and “exhausted,” had gathered from the early hours, with some parents reportedly having slept outside the offices.
The frustration stems from a persistent failure to place learners, despite many parents claiming they applied on time last year. Parents interviewed expressed anger over being offered placements only at schools far from their homes or at institutions with unaffordable fees.
“I reside in Estate. We’ve been here since around 6:00 a.m., but they cannot assist us,” said parent Mary Jane. “They are giving us schools which are far away from where we stay… We don’t have transport money for those kids. We already purchased school uniform for those kids. But then it’s like they do not want to help us.”
Another parent from Clarina, Pretoria North, said police were called because “we are angry. We are furious. We want to fight.” She reported arriving at the district offices at 3:00 a.m. after her Grade One child was placed in Atteridgeville, 19 kilometers from her home. “I am not working,” she said. “Where do I get the money to take my child there?”
She also alleged that schools in her area had available spaces but the department was not allocating them. “The schools have spaces… the department must just open these spaces for us,” she stated.
A parent from Atteridgeville reported applying in August last year for his Grade 8 learner, only to be told the system showed no documents were submitted. “The system is failing and it’s failing so dismally,” he said. “I cannot afford to take my child to a private school and they’re not doing anything about it.”
Parents uniformly reported a lack of communication from district officials, who they say blame a flawed central system for the lack of placements. “They just come and then they tell us that… it’s the system now, it’s not them,” said Leoni.
The situation echoes crises from previous years. Reporters noted that last January, thousands of learners in the province also began the academic year unplaced, a systemic issue the provincial education department has previously acknowledged.
The Gauteng Department of Education has yet to issue an official statement regarding today’s deployments or the specific placement failures at the education offices. The police remain on scene as the standoff between desperate parents and the education system continues.