5 Feb 2023
THE South African Human Rights Commission is probing why children in Cape Town, one as old as 13, have never seen the inside of a classroom. The investigation follows the story of a widowed father, Mario Claasen, who has been struggling to admit his three sons, aged seven, nine and 11, to at least three schools for the past five years. The resident of Happy Valley, near Blackheath, said his children have never received formal education after different schools slammed the doors on them despite their hunger to learn. "My eldest son who turns 12 this year cannot even write his name. His sevenyearold brother can because a good Samaritan found and paid for preschool for him to do Grade R. It's heartbreaking," said Claasen. The SAHRC said it would urgently look into the matter and escalated the case to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga. "The failure to place the children at school will increase the level of poverty in communities, instead of getting people out of it through education," said commissioner Chris Nissen.