PRETORIA – Frustrated parents have blocked the gate at Hoërskool Akasia in Pretoria in protest over ongoing placement delays.
They have vowed no teachers will be allowed to enter or exit the school premises until their children have been placed. Several Grade 8 pupils along with children in other intermediate grades remain unplaced
Officials from the provincial Education Department were on Friday locked in a meeting with the school’s management.
While the school management has put up a notice at the gate to say the school had reached its capacity, the parents have refused to accept that. They accused the school of prioritising pupils from outside the area over their children.
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A parent told eNCA: "We have been coming here looking for space and they say there's no space for our children, yet we live 1-2 kilometres away. There are children that are coming in buses, they are coming from Mabopane and Soshanguve and they are placed here.”
The parents accused the teachers and school management of interfering with the placement process by keeping spaces for their relatives and friends.
“We are being told stories every day. Yesterday they told us they were going to do a head count but today when we are here to get feedback they are saying we are not allowed to get in the school., we are having problems."