Students struggle for school placement

WITH the school year starting today, hordes of pupils are still struggling to secure placement in schools.
The most problems are experienced by students in grades one, eight and eleven.

An official of the Regional School Council in the Khomas Region said these students had to wait until Friday to find out where they would attend school this year.’The placement process is going fine so far. We are going to place all the learners who have handed in applications. We received over 60 students looking for placement today alone and this will continue until Friday when we will hang the names of the students and where they are placed,’ said Emily Shihepo from the Teachers’ Resource Centre where registration is taking place. She said most of the late placements were eleventh-graders who had been waiting for their exam results until recently.She added that first- and eighth-graders experiencing problems were those whose parents had missed the registration deadline last year. Dennis Fredericks, Principal of Dawid Bezuidenhout High School in Khomasdal, said more than 100 parents flocked to the school yesterday morning looking for placement for their children. ‘I predict that even more parents will show up as the week goes by. Our classes are full to capacity already as it is. We are also trying to find places for those who failed grade ten last year from other schools,’ he said.Katjariua Ebison, Principal of Concordia College, said his school was also struggling to allocate places to learners who had applied for grade 11 elsewhere but were not accepted. Augustineum Principal Beatrice Losper said her school as waiting for students who will flock to the school from Friday after placement by the Teachers’ Resource Centre. The Ministry of Education introduced the concept of tent schools a while back due to lack of space in schools and the increasing number of pupils each year. Khomas Regional Education Director Josia Undjombala said tent schools were not being considered at the moment.’We still have some parents who missed deadlines to register their children last year who are only doing so now. If this number increases, then we might look into the concept of tent schools,’ he said.