Yusuf Omar
TWENTY-five children arrived at Meredale Primary School excited about their first day of school yesterday morning.
They wore freshly ironed uniforms, and shoes that clearly indicated they had made an effort to give them that extra shine.
However, on arrival at the school gates, the group found the classes were full, and they were asked to go home.
Several dozen parents toyi-toyied outside the school for the third day in a row, demanding that their children be admitted.
The group, all of whom live within a five-minute walk of the school, complained that many children from other areas find places in the school.
“My son didn’t get the experience of being at school on the very first day,” said a teary-eyed Maria Motsile, the mother of a Grade 1 pupil.
“We are being sent from pillar to post. The school is telling us to go to the district department of education; the district is sending us to the school,” said Motsile.
She displayed a letter from the district department of education addressed to the Meredale Primary School principal, requesting the school to “please accommodate this pupil”.
“We are desperate parents. This is our third day outside the school. We don’t know what to do anymore,” Motsile said.
David, a parent who couldn’t provide his surname because he was missing work to participate in the protest, said: “I applied in July, very early. In November, they told us the school was full and that our children would be placed on a waiting list.
“When we applied at other schools, they told us to go back to our area,” he said.
Takalani Lungisa, a father, said: “I live five minutes walk away from the school, but they are telling me I must find transport and send my son to Soweto; the same place where other children are running from and coming here.
“We have seen children from Orange Farm, Alberton and Soweto being admitted here while the children of Meredale suffer.”
Gauteng Department of Education spokesman Charles Phahlane said: “We don’t have sufficient space for learners in the south.”
The toyi-toying parents agreed that schools in the south were perceived as being better because they are former Model C schools, and parents from Soweto and Eldorado Park sent their children there for a better education.