Thousands of Eastern Cape pupils have inaccurate identity numbers and might be “ghost pupils”.
The problem was picked up by a high-tech system designed to expunge ghost pupils from official records.
The Daily Dispatch understands that the identities of more than 200000 pupils could not be verified by the government’s electronic system linked to the department of home affairs.
This is preventing the allocation of state resources to schools.
The provincial education authorities yesterday called on schools to verify the identities of their pupils to enable payments to be made to school bank accounts today.
Eastern Cape education department spokesman Loyiso Pulumani could not provide the numbers of pupils, districts or schools affected.
“Since it is the beginning of a new quarter, such detail will have to be collated and confirmed,” he said.
Asked if the provision of incorrect pupil details could be intentional, Pulumani suspected schools were being negligent.
“In some scenarios there was duplication of ID numbers because pupils appeared under more than one school because of the movement of pupils. If schools do not update the system, then that happens.”
He said the department sent out an urgent call to all the school management teams, school governing bodies, parents and all local school communities, to assist principals in making sure that pupils’ valid identity, passport or study permit numbers were confirmed in schools across the province and submitted to the department.
Officials had picked up that some schools had a concerning number of pupils who did not have valid identity, passport or study permit numbers.
This had been discovered by the South African Schools Administration Management System (Sasams).
The Daily Dispatch reported in 2011 that the department introduced Sasams to flush out “ghost” pupils.
The system was scheduled to be introduced to more than 5000 schools across the province.
Ghost pupils have cost the department millions.
In 2010, an internal audit uncovered at least 101000 fictitious “pupils” enrolled at schools.
The department, which funds schools according to the number of pupils enrolled, lost more than R90-million that financial year.
Sasams is, among other things, used to allocate teachers and determine the allocation and transfer of funds to schools.
Thousands of EC ghost pupils
The problem was picked up by a high-tech system designed to expunge ghost pupils from official records.
The Daily Dispatch understands that the identities of more than 200000 pupils could not be verified by the government’s electronic system linked to the department of home affairs.
This is preventing the allocation of state resources to schools.
The provincial education authorities yesterday called on schools to verify the identities of their pupils to enable payments to be made to school bank accounts today.
Eastern Cape education department spokesman Loyiso Pulumani could not provide the numbers of pupils, districts or schools affected.
“Since it is the beginning of a new quarter, such detail will have to be collated and confirmed,” he said.
Asked if the provision of incorrect pupil details could be intentional, Pulumani suspected schools were being negligent.
“In some scenarios there was duplication of ID numbers because pupils appeared under more than one school because of the movement of pupils. If schools do not update the system, then that happens.”
He said the department sent out an urgent call to all the school management teams, school governing bodies, parents and all local school communities, to assist principals in making sure that pupils’ valid identity, passport or study permit numbers were confirmed in schools across the province and submitted to the department.
Officials had picked up that some schools had a concerning number of pupils who did not have valid identity, passport or study permit numbers.
This had been discovered by the South African Schools Administration Management System (Sasams).
The Daily Dispatch reported in 2011 that the department introduced Sasams to flush out “ghost” pupils.
The system was scheduled to be introduced to more than 5000 schools across the province.
Ghost pupils have cost the department millions.
In 2010, an internal audit uncovered at least 101000 fictitious “pupils” enrolled at schools.
The department, which funds schools according to the number of pupils enrolled, lost more than R90-million that financial year.
Sasams is, among other things, used to allocate teachers and determine the allocation and transfer of funds to schools.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos