Gauteng education dept busy placing Grade 1, 8 pupils in schools

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is busy placing Grade one and Grade eight pupils in schools for the 2022 academic year. The department opened online admissions for Grades one and eight in public schools in September.

The admission process has since been closed, and officials are now working on placements.

“This part of the admissions process involves parents and guardians either receiving a placement offer via SMS or on the website.

“Learner placements officially commenced on 15 October 2021 and will continue until 30 November 2021,” said Gauteng education department MEC Panyaza Lesufi.

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So far, 123,752 placement offers have been released to parents.

“Of these, 47,906 applicants have accepted the offers and have been placed,” said Lesufi.

Records show that 75,846 applicants received offers, but have not yet accepted them.

Parents who did not receive a placement offer via SMS need to check the admissions website for the status of their applications, and accept the offer (or offers) if available.

“Offers may be accepted provisionally, while further offers are awaited or accepted as final. Once an offer is accepted as final, no further offers will be made, stressed Lesufi.

Some parents who applied online on time and have not yet received an SMS are most likely to receive their offers by end of November, as the process is still ongoing.

Overcrowding may be unavoidable as applications exceed capacity

“We have identified 10 high-pressure schools during the application period,” said the department in a statement.

They are as follows:

1. Inqayizivele Secondary School
   Capacity: 340
   Applications received: 1,916
2. Hoërskool Langenhoven
   Capacity: 300
   Applications received: 1,477
3. Parktown Boys High School
   Capacity: 210
   Applications received: 1,441
4. Hulwazi Secondary School
   Capacity: 320
   Applications received: 1,375
5. Jeppe High School For Boys
   Capacity: 208
   Applications received: 1,276
6. Sir Johan Adamson High School
   Capacity: 280
   Applications Received: 1,248
7. Lesiba Secondary School
   Capacity: 350
   Applications Received: 1,240
8. Hoërskool Jeugland
   Capacity: 260
   Applications Received: 1,154
9. Hoërskool President
   Capacity: 450
   Applications Received: 1,130
10. Eqinisweni Secondary School
    Capacity: 370
    Applications Received: 1,123

These schools will not be able to accommodate all applicants, but the department has urged parents not to panic, as it is working on a solution to accommodate all pupils.

“Our officials will work tirelessly to ensure that pupils are accommodated at alternative schools.”

The department promised to assist schools in high-pressure areas to build more classrooms to accommodate more learners for future admissions.

“For a mere fact that Inqayizivele Secondary in Tembisa, a township school, received the most number of applications is an indication that we have changed the landscape in the improvement of township education,” said Lesufi.

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