JOHANNESBURG – Hundreds of thousands of pupils are heading to their classrooms across South Africa.
Parents have braved online admissions, lengthy queues and coughed up for pricey stationery and uniforms.
Learners at Northcliff Primary in Randburg are being ushered through the school gates by parents and guardians.
The start of the new school year is thrilling for many who will walk the school’s corridors for the first time on Wednesday.
Parents who are part of the process are equally overjoyed to see their children pursue their schooling careers.
Aslam Mansoor said his daughter passed top of her class last year and is now ready for grade four.
Grade 1 pupils starting their schooling career for the first time at Northcliff Primary said they were eager to get down to the business of learning.
Some pupils have gleefully walked back into a familiar setting.
However, many young pupils with large bags and brand new oversized uniforms giving them away as grade 1s cling onto their parents and guardians with wide eyes but surprisingly no tears.
A confident Senate Mamahali seems eager to face the uncertainty of her first day at school.
“I’m excited about learning things. I’m going to learn how to read and many things.”
Meanwhile, Refilwe Gumede said her final year of primary school would be an academically challenging one, but she remained positive.
“I’m excited but also scared. We have nine subjects and it’s frustrating.”
The Gauteng Education Department said it was rushing to clear the backlog of late placements in the province.
MOOD AT NOORDGESIG JOVIAL
Some Soweto parents said they were excited as their children began the academic calendar in a newly built state of the art school.
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi and Premier David Makhura are due to officially handover Noordgesig Primary on Wednesday morning.
Thousands of pupils are yet to be placed in a school in the province with the Education Department saying it was doing everything it could to accommodate the high influx of pupils to Gauteng.
There’s a jovial mood at Noordgesig where parents and pupils are being welcomed to the new school.
A parent can’t hold back her excitement.
“It’s a pleasure for the children to be in a new school and they must learn hard.”
A mother said she hoped the newly built school would help her child improve her school marks.
“It looks beautiful and as I saw the pre-school… it’s wow and your child is safe.”
This school will accommodate nearly 2,000 pupils from this community.