The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has launched an extensive campaign to remind parents to enroll their children for school next year, if they have not already done so.

The Enroll Early Campaign is aimed mainly at parents of children starting primary or high school for the first time, or who are changing schools.

A similar campaign contributed significantly to ensuring a reasonably smooth start to the 2005 school year. We want to do the same in 2006.

The vast majority of our parents have already enrolled their children in school for 2006. Unfortunately, for various reasons, some parents wait until the end of the year before they apply to enroll their children. Some even wait till the start of the new school year.

They are usually disappointed to find that they cannot find places because schools are full, and their children often lose out on days of schooling while they desperately find somewhere to go.

The WCED is committed to providing a learning home for all children of school-going age, but we have to depend on parents applying to enroll their children in good time.

Schools and the department have to plan ahead, to make sure that we have all the resources we need in place well before the start of the new school year. We cannot do so properly if we have to accommodate large numbers of learners at the last moment.

We are therefore asking parents to apply for enrolment well before the end of the third term this year, by Friday, 23 September 2005.

The four-week campaign began in late August and will extend till the week of Monday, 19 September, the final week of the third school term.

The campaign began with advertising in daily and community newspapers and on popular radio stations.

The WCED will distribute 150 000 leaflets at taxi ranks and stations in selected areas during the week of 12 to 16 September, and a further 100 000 in selected primary schools, with a request to children to give them to their parents.

The department has asked principals of primary and high schools to work collaboratively with the WCED to find places for their children who still do not have accommodation for 2006.

The WCED has established a toll-free telephone service for parents needing information on how to go about enrolling their children in school. The number is 0800-200-506.

The WCED’s Education Management and Development Centres (EMDCs) will organise public meetings and Open Days in selected areas, mostly during the week of 12 to 16 September, to provide further advice on the enrolment process.

Information on dates, venues and times of the meetings and Open Days will appear in community newspapers and on posters in selected areas.

We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to find places in school for every child still needing accommodation. However, time is tight and we do not want to disappoint any parents or their children. We call on parents to help us to help them.

For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938.