Motshekga: Schools shouldn't turn away migrant learners without proper documents
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has written to the African Diaspora Forum to re-assure the association after learners who don't have birth certificates were refused entry into schools, and others removed.
JOHANNESBURG - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says that schools should neither refuse migrant learners’ entry or remove them if they don't have proper documents.
Motshekga has written to the African Diaspora Forum to re-assure the association after learners who don't have birth certificates were refused entry into schools, and others removed.
She said that while the admission policy empowers schools to require documentation, it does not in any way prohibit entry, and where documents are not finalised in the prescribed three months, parents should be assisted.
The Immigration Act states that it’s an offence for a school to admit a learner without documents such as a birth certificate.
If found guilty, such a school can be fined up to R5,000 per learner.
So many principals choose to be safe, and many migrant learners stay at home.
African Diaspora Forum Chair Dr Vusimuzi Sibanda has welcomed this development.
“We are very happy, on behalf of the children that have been affected by this. It is not only migrant children, but we have also got a lot of native South African children affected by this particular policy.”
The department has directed all provinces to ensure that all learners regardless of their citizenship status are admitted, pending finalisation of the ministerial taskforce on the matter.
More in Local
-
DA pads itself on the back for 'good' performance in Parly
-
ANC to challenge vote allowing DA’s Da Gama to stay on as Joburg speaker
-
Eskom to implement stage 2 load shedding from 9 am today
-
Baby Jeremiah Ruiters’s alleged killers to learn their fate next week
-
SAA appoints Les Matuson to lead business rescue process
-
Eskom unable to say when load shedding will stop
Comments
EWN welcomes all comments that are constructive, contribute to discussions in a meaningful manner and take stories forward.
comments powered by DisqusHowever, we will NOT condone the following:
- Racism (including offensive comments based on ethnicity and nationality)
- Sexism
- Homophobia
- Religious intolerance
- Cyber bullying
- Hate speech
- Derogatory language
- Comments inciting violence.
We ask that your comments remain relevant to the articles they appear on and do not include general banter or conversation as this dilutes the effectiveness of the comments section.
We strive to make the EWN community a safe and welcoming space for all.
EWN reserves the right to: 1) remove any comments that do not follow the above guidelines; and, 2) ban users who repeatedly infringe the rules.
Should you find any comments upsetting or offensive you can also flag them and we will assess it against our guidelines.
EWN is constantly reviewing its comments policy in order to create an environment conducive to constructive conversations.