WCED Launches Enrolment 2013 Campaign | Western Cape Government

News

News

WCED Launches Enrolment 2013 Campaign

11 June 2012

The Western Cape Education Department has launched a major enrolment campaign to encourage parents to register their children for the 2013 school year by 7 September 2012.

The campaign is targeting parents in mainly rapidly growing communities, where we are most likely to see large numbers of learners enrolling in our schools for the first time.

Parents or caregivers of children who are starting primary or high school in 2013, or who are changing schools, must enroll their children within the prescribed timeframes. The first phase began in March and ended on 22 June 2012. The second phase begins on 16 July 2012 and ends on 7 September 2012.

We are asking parents to help us help their children by making sure their children have a place at a school next year.

If we want to plan properly for the year ahead, and ensure that quality teaching and learning starts on the very first day of the new school year, we need to mimimise the effects of late enrolment at schools.

Leaving enrolment to the last minute places a massive amount of pressure on our officials and distracts our schools from their task at hand - teaching and learning.

We encourage parents to apply to more than one school. Parents should be aware that many schools have waiting lists, and that they should not assume they will find places at their preferred school or that their children have places once they have submitted their application forms.

When submitting their applications, parents need to provide the following documents:

  • The child's birth certificate.
  • Immunisation card.
  • Transfer card or the last report card for learners who have already been to school.

Our district officials will do everything possible to assist parents who are finding it difficult to place their child in a school, but they cannot guarantee places in schools of choice if schools are full.

In terms of the enrolment campaign, the department is rolling out the campaign in two phases over three months, from 1 June to 31 August 2012.

The first phase has started with outdoor displays in selected communities. These include billboards and posters in shopping malls, taxi ranks, bus shelters, petrol station forecourts and outside schools.

The targeted areas include various parts of Khayelitsha, Mitchell's Plain, Langa, Nyanga, Delft, Nomzamo and Strand.

The department has placed posters in trains serving Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, and "visor" displays in long-haul taxis travelling on the N1, N2 and N7.

The second phase in August will include radio advertisements on five radio stations that serve urban and rural districts, and mobile displays on trailers that will tour selected areas.

This year, for the first time, the department is also promoting its message via spaza shops in selected townships.

The WCED has acquired space on 100 000 small bags of rice that spaza shop owners are using to promote sales of electricity via their shops. On each of the bags is a printed message that reads: "Enrol your child for school today. Let's make education better together!"

Not only is the promotion getting the WCED's message across on early enrolment, it is also helping to build small businesses.

Most electricity consumers buy the electricity for pre-paid meters at petrol stations and larger shops. Research has shown that spaza shops can double or treble their income if they sell electricity vouchers.

The spaza shop owners are attracting electricity customers by handing out small bags of rice with every sale of electricity.

It is the sincere hope of the department that every recipient of a bag of rice, whether a parent of a child or not, then promotes the message of early enrolment.

Every hour of every teaching day is important to us. If we are to make education Better Together and ensure a smooth start to the 2013 school year, then we should certainly begin by ensuring that our children are enrolled as soon as possible.

Media Enquiries: 

Bronagh Casey
Spokesperson for Minister Grant
Tel: 021 467 2377
Cell: 027 724 1422
E-mail: Bronagh.casey@pgwc.gov.za