A seven-year-old girl from Valhalla Park is not being allowed to go to school because she does not have a birth certificate.
Fatima Khan says her daughter has dreamt of going to big school for a long time and was accepted at two schools last year.
But when they heard Fatima does not have an identity document, and little Kulsum doesn’t have a birth certificate, the girl was rejected.
Fatima says Kulsum is heartbroken and bored at home.
“She sits and reads,” the mom says.
Kulsum says she doesn’t understand why the school “doesn’t want me”.
“I want to read and write and learn and grow up clever. I don’t know why the schools don’t want to take me,” she says.
According to Fatima, her parents died when she was very young and she grew up with no birth certificate and never owned an ID.
“I went to Home Affairs many times, trying to get an ID and a birth certificate for Kulsum. They said they could not help me,” the mom explains.
“Kulsum was accepted in June 2017 at two primary schools, but when they requested her birth certificate, I could not give them one. My child was turned away and I could not tell her why.”
Spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), Millicent Merton, says it’s all up to Home Affairs.
“Schools may admit children who do not have birth certificates conditionally, in terms of policy, on condition that the parents provide evidence from Home Affairs that they have applied for the birth certificate.”
The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to queries.