Immigrant children denied entry to South African schools

Immigrant children who lack official documents are being denied access to certain schools in South Africa, local news site GroundUp reports. 

This is despite a circular sent out by the Department of Basic Education in July last year, instructing schools to conditionally admit all pupils while their parents were waiting to receive their documents. 

The directive was reinforced by a court ruling in December. Judge President Selby Mbenenge  prohibited the education department from removing or excluding children from schools, including “illegal foreign children, already admitted, purely by reason of the fact that the children have no identity document number, permit or passport, or have not produced any identification documents”.

Reports indicate these instructions have not been properly relayed to some schools, which are still turning away undocumented children. A spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department told South African media that the department would be sending out its own instructions to local schools. Eastern Cape Education Department said that these cases had been “irregular”. 

South Africa attracts migrants from across the continent, with about 70% coming from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho. 

Photo credit: Yeshiel Panchia | Al Jazeera