The Gauteng Department of Education can report that the number of unplaced pupils in the province, whose parents applied online have been drastically reduced to 7 092, of which 3 930 are Grade 1s and 3 162 are Grade 8s. However, 12 821 completely new applications through walk-ins at the admission centres have been received by the department, of which 7 820 are for Grade 1 and 5 001 for Grade 8.
The head of the department has not declared schools full yet as districts are still finding spaces where offers of placements were not confirmed and pupils have relocated to new residential areas.
“We reiterate our deep sense of empathy with the parents whose children are still not placed and commit to accelerate placement to at least eliminate the backlog of online applications,” said MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
The following is a media statement by the Department of Education:
“Another reason has been administrative delays. For example, schools not updating placement data on time and the intense process of verifying the placement information submitted by schools to our districts. Districts had to ensure that schools followed the admission regulations and turned back a submitted list where discrepancies were found.
“We are pleased that after our interventions, Hoërskool Overkruin and Hoërskool Montana will accept the pupils who study in English. The department met the School Governing Body (SGB) of both schools and community members last night, to find common ground on the admission issues. Late applications have also added to the delay. The Department received more than 70 000 online applications after the deadline of 1 June 2016.
“We are encouraged by the work of our district officials, working in 62 operation centres to assist parents. Many parents complained that they did not receive updates on the state of their applications. For this, we apologise unconditionally to those parents.
“The department is currently experiencing high admissions pressure in various areas, one of which is Johannesburg North, covering Bryanston, Randburg, Cosmo City and Diepsloot.”
For more information, contact the Gauteng Department of Education’s head of communications, Oupa Bodibe on 011 355 0535; 011 843 6540; 072 645 4569.
