Number of Gauteng pupils to be placed reduced from 34,358 to 29,862

The Gauteng Department of Education has reduced the amount of pupils waiting to be placed from 34,358 to 29,862, its spokesperson, Steve Mabona, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This demonstrates a steady increase of learners currently placed to 250 309, which represents 88.51% of total applications received.

“Our officials are committed and working tirelessly to place the remaining 29 862, or 10.52%, of unplaced learners by November 30, 2019,” Mabona said.

Of the 250 309 pupils, 134 680 were placed in Grade 1 and 115 629 in Grade 8.

The department has expressed concern over the 27 563 parents who have not submitted or do not have documents.

“They have not submitted or do not have documents. We will announce how they will be assisted in due course,” Mabona said.

He added parents who had not applied to place their children would not be accommodated until the remaining 29 862 have been placed.

The department said pupils were placed according to the following criteria:

• The applicant pupil’s place of residence is closest to the school within the feeder zone.
• The applicant pupil has a sibling attending the school.
• The place of employment of at least one of the applicant pupil’s parents is within the feeder zone of the school.
• The applicant pupil’s place of residence is within a 30km radius of the school.
• The applicant pupil’s place of residence is beyond a 30km radius of the school.

Parents are urged to log on to the system for assistance.

If they do not have access to the internet they should visit their nearest district office.

“To facilitate a fair placement process, the above criteria will be strictly adhered to without fail. Parents should therefore accept placement offered by the department as these cannot be changed,” Mabona said in an earlier News24 report.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.