At least 60 000 children have not got places at schools in two of South Africa’s most populous provinces as the country’s academic year starts this week.
Authorities are blaming parents who’ve left it to the last minute to register their children in Gauging and the Western Cape.
They insist they will eventually accommodate all the pupils. Last year it took until May to do this.
Finding desks for pupils is a perennial problem in South Africa – particularly in the urban areas.
The biggest jam is in the first year of school and and the first year of high school.
Parents are advised to register for places at least six months before the start of the new year.
Fewer than half do this.
South Africa’s schools are not only grossly overcrowded, but they are of lamentably poor standard
In the week that results were released from South Africa’s final high school certificate called matric, the international news publication, The Economist, has declared the schools in Africa’s wealthiest country as among the most inept in the world.
The publication reported that South Africa ranked 75th out of 76, in a league table of education systems drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.