Hundreds of pupils unplaced

NEARLY 200 pupils in Nelson Mandela Bay are still sitting at home two weeks after the school year started. The pupils – mostly in Grade 1 – were turned away from schools already bursting at the seams.

Now, parents and education officials are scrambling to try to get them into schools before they miss too many lessons.

But some officials say the problem is not a lack of places at schools, but rather that parents do not want their children to attend schools with low pass rates and too few teachers.