Refugee children turned away by Cape schools

Source: GroundUp, 26/03/2019

Some parents told GroundUp they had been trying to apply to
schools since applications opened in February for next year. The
deadline was Friday, 15 March.
Parents who spoke to GroundUp said they had been turned away from
Parow West, Parow Inclusive and Parow High because the children
did not have their own documents.
The parents said these schools were requiring study permits in the
child’s name, or proof that an application for one had been made
at Home Affairs.
Western Cape Department of Education spokesperson Jessica Shelver
said schools could enrol learners without documents “but the
parents must provide proof of having applied” to Home Affairs.
“Schools generally work on the rule that if the proof is not
provided within three months, the school may deregister the
learner.”
VAC director Germain Kalombo said that, since some of the children
have South African birth certificates, the schools should have
been lenient and accepted applications while the parents are
working on getting documents.
He said getting documents for the children of refugees could take
a long time.
“Even if they do go for family-joining at Home Affairs they would
stand the whole day in the queue, without getting any help. There
is a backlog at Home Affairs,” he said.
Family joining means granting refugee status (or a similar secure
status) to family members “accompanying a recognised refugee”,
according to the University of Cape Town’s Refugee Rights Unit at
its Law Clinic.
In 2018 GroundUp reported how refugees in Cape Town have been
struggling with the family-joining process. At the time, the
Scalabrini centre in Cape Town said that since 2013 they’d had
about 530 individuals approaching them for assistance with the
process.
VAC also said that for family-joining Home Affairs wants the
child’s birth certificate from the original country or the natal
clinic card from when the child was born.
For obvious reasons, many refugees would not have these or have
access to these.
PASSOP said parents with Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs), as
well as those with refugee status, continuously faced problems
enrolling their children if the children did not have a permit.
Previously GroundUp reported how a woman had to buy a permit in
order to put her child in school. She was caught between Home
Affairs and the contradictory policies of the education
department. A study permit in the child’s name is required when
submitting an application, but Home Affairs does not issue a study
permit without proof of acceptance at a school.
In February, GroundUp reported on a woman who had been on a ZEP
permit since 2008 who was told by Home Affairs to go to Zimbabwe
to apply for a child-accompanying visa for her child born in South
Africa.
To go to Zimbabwe simply to apply for a visa is an exorbitant cost
for many parents who must also take leave from work.
Home Affairs media manager David Hlabane said: “The matter must be
handled in terms of applicable policies, procedures and
requirements, including for school admission.”