THE Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) wishes to remind parents that there are only few days left to apply online for Grade One and Grade Eight as the online system will shut down on May 28 midnight.
Further, parents that have applied are reminded to submit the required documents at schools urgently. As a special concession, schools will accept documents only up to 2pm on June 5. Failure to submit documents will lead to applicants forfeiting their positions in the queue.
The South has four schools in the top 10 that parents/guardians want their children to go to:
At number one is Alberton High in Randhart with 1 960 applicants, number three is Sir John Adamson High in Winchester Hills with 1 832 applicants, number four is Mondeor High in Mondeor with 1 787 applicants and President High in Ridgeway with 1 687 applicants.
To date (May 24), a total of 535 064 applications have been processed since the start of the online applications on April 16. This translates to 251 808 applications for Grade One and 283 256 for Grade Eight. Most of these are self-applications by parents that utilised the system. Approximately 18 000 parents utilised the 37 decentralised admission centres for assistance to apply on online.
The department is excited by the overwhelming response from parents/guardians that have already applied and thank them for their co-operation. An unprecedented number of parents/guardians heeded the call to apply on time. Most of the decentralised admission centres were flooded on the first day of applications. While a few challenges were encountered, the application period proceeded relatively free of errors aside from the following which was resolved almost immediately:
• Applicants applied to the wrong grade
• Applicants entered incorrect addresses
• Applicants lost/forgot login credentials
• Technical error when selecting “sibling”
• Delay in the provision of some reference numbers
• Parents who could not find their addresses were immediately advised to select the “Can’t find address” option which was available from the onset.
Based on the number of applications registered to date, there are 596 schools where demand exceeds available spaces. Some of the schools in these areas have recorded between 1 538 and 1 960 applications for either Grade One or Grade Eight.
There are 385 schools with less than 50 applications, 79 schools with less than 20 applications, and 69 schools with less than 10 applications. These schools are all located in townships. It is concerning that in the last two years many parents in townships waited for the late application period and flooded GDE offices in January to apply for their children.
The Department is moving away from late applications and parents who do not apply online by midnight on May 28 are running the risk of having their children out of school in January 2019. Parents from other provinces who are planning to move to Gauteng are urged to apply online before the closing date.
The placement process will start from July 18 and end on October 31. Parents should note that availability of space is the key determinant of how many children can be placed in a school. Placement will be conducted in compliance with admissions criteria and on a first-come-first-served basis.
During the placement period, principals will receive the approved and signed waiting lists from district directors to process offers of placement. Schools will send offers of placement to parents from July 28 to August 3. During this period, parents will receive an SMS notification regarding the status of their applications.
Parents are to confirm offers of placement within seven working days of receipt. Parents who do not confirm acceptance and/or reject offers will forfeit the space offered. During the period August 6 to October 31, districts will facilitate placement of learners who could not be placed by schools.
The Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said, “We are indebted to all parents who have heeded to our call and applied in numbers. The response from the public was indeed overwhelming. We encourage those that have applied to conform to the stipulated deadline.”
Parents need to log on to www.gdeadmissions.gov.za
Also Read:
Grade One and Grade Eight online application open for 2019
Over 100 000 applications for Grades One and Eight processed
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