Abstract
This quantitative study was conducted to investigate parental reasons for choice of
primary schools in the district 12 (D12) region of the Gauteng province in South
Africa. Prior to the 1994 dispensation, the choice of school was determined by
legislation and most South African parents adhered to the law which determined
that their children enrol in schools geographically or racially assigned to them. Four
(4) primary schools were randomly selected from the total of 100 schools in D12 to
obtain the perceptions of parents in this region regarding the factors influencing
their choice of schools. 600 questionnaires were thus distributed to the parents and
400 were returned of which 371 (61.8%) could be used for further analysis. Data
were examined using SPSS 20 (Norusis, 2010) to determine the spread of the data.
This was executed with the view of determining which of the indicators involved
in the choice factors were the best predictors for parental choice of schools. The
study found that critical indicators in school choice, school cultural indicators,
financial indicators, beneficial school service indicators, and consideration towards
learners were the most important aspects when considering the choice of school.
The study recommends that school leaders must be able to demonstrate that they
can shape the conditions for good quality teaching, amidst enormous challenges of
under-resourcing, various degrees of inequalities, the HIV/AIDS scourge, and now
recently, the uncertainties and anxieties brought about by the onslaught of Covid-
19 and its variants.