Dear Portfolio Committee on Basic Education,

I am pleading the Department to allow children to continue with homeschooling. The Legal Guardians of these children made the decision in their best interest.

1.) THERE IS NO SPACE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
There is no space in Public Schools. Especially in Gauteng. The enrollment of pupils for the year 2022, according to the department of education has increased with 300 000. The number of Children NOT placed in schools all over SA before the start of the new 2022 school term, was 400 000.
According to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, 57 schools in Gauteng had been vandalised or needed urgent attention.

THERE IS NO SPACE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

2.) JOB LOSSES / BUSINESS CLOSURE / CRIPPLING THE FUTURE OF SA
Have you projected the anticipated job losses. The anticipated companies "Providing online Tutoring or something similar" that will have to close down as it will be labeled as being Illegal.
A census done by Stats SA shows the following independent school results in 2009.

Public School learners – 12 490 132
Number Educators – 399 156
Number of schools – 23 796

Independent school learners – 402 141
Number Educators – 34 164
Number of Schools – 1 966

This will mean that another 402 141 learners will not be placed in schools, excluding the current 400 000.
It will also result in at least 80% of educators will loose their jobs, as their profession will be deemed Illegal. and 1 966 school and or institutions will be closed.
It seems that the plan is to let the Education system & everyone in it, fall through the cracks and cripple the future "the youth" of South Africa.

Will all the online accredited Basic Education online institutions also suffer the same fate?

JOB LOSSES AND BUSINESS CLOSURE WILL CRIPPLE THE FUTURE OF SA

3.) EDUCATORS HAVE NO TIME / SKILLS FOR ADHD, ADD, DYSLEXIA ETC
Educators in Public school for basic education does not have the luxury of time.
As it is currently in Gauteng, Pretoria, children are marking their own exam papers with the answers given on a projector and or red by the educator.

Children with ADHD, ADD, Anxiety, Dyslexia to only name a few, are being labeled, by educators, as naughty and or problematic. No extra attention and or even a 2nd thought are given to them. The educators have a curriculum timeline to adhere to, so they continue to work with the children who have no learning shortcomings.

Educators do not have the time to give these children the extra attention they need, nor do they have the skills to be able to effectively teach these children. As a result, they are left to fall through the cracks.

EDUCATORS HAVE NO TIME FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING SHORTCOMINGS, NOR DO THEY HAVE THE SKILLS.

4.)DG TO DECIDE THEIR FATE
With all due respect, but the DG of the Department of Basic Education is NOT the Legal Guardian of our Children. How can a decision be made if he/she has no interaction with the child nor know the child?

The parents who are Legal Guardians of the Children who are being educated at home "homeschooling", have taken their child's BEST INTEREST in consideration when they decided to choose homeschooling. There are numerous shortcomings and or disabilities if you will and even emotional and physical protection that has been taken into consideration when most of these Children were enrolled in homeschooling.

A.) EMOTIONAL SHORTCOMINGS - There are 8 different emotional shortcomings that are overlooked most of the time and they are as real as they are serious: *Depression; *Phobias; *Emotional eating; *Stubbornness; *Hyper-sensitivity; *Isolation; *Aggression and Panic Attacks.

B.) BULLYING - There are Verbal, Physical and Cyberbullying to just name a few. The results and outcomes of this are *Victims of bullying suffer consequences beyond embarrassment. *Some experience psychological and/or physical distress. *They are frequently absent & cannot concentrate on schoolwork. *Threaten students’ physical & emotional safety. *They have low self-esteem. *Their victimization can lead to depression that last for years after the victimization. *Children stay at home to avoid being bullied. *Some children who are bullied experienced poorer health, more frequently contemplated suicide & suffered from depression, social dysfunction, anxiety & insomnia.

C.) COGNITIVE SHORTCOMINGS - Some are: Sustained Attention; Response Inhibition; Speed of Information Processing; Cognitive Flexibility; Multiple Simultaneous Attention; Working Memory; Category Formation; Pattern Recognition.

I AM THEREFORE PLEADING TO THE COMMITTEE TO ALLOW THE CONTINUATION OF HOMESCHOOLING AS IT IS FOR THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILDREN.