SA Migration International

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South Africa: Refugee Children Turned Away By Cape Schools

Source: Groundup, 22/03/2019

The organisations say they know of about 40 children, between grade
one and eight, who are struggling to get into school. There are also
about 15 learners who could not write matric examinations last year
due to their refugee documentation.
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 and 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 has 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.`

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