The Gauteng Department of Education would open their system for late online applications on Wednesday this week.
It would close again on 24 January, the department said at a media briefing in Johannesburg.
“Only schools with capacity will be made available on the system during this period,” it said.
“Applicants will provisionally be placed until they submit documents to the school accordingly. No objections or appeals will be entertained.”
The department said it had 912 primary schools and 374 high schools available with space for late applications.
“All districts are operating as walk-in centres to assist parents with applications from 15-24 January 2020,” the department said.
“Parents who have not submitted documents are advised to visit districts for placement. Districts are to place applicants and send parents to identified schools with available space to submit documents.”
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The department said the most common problems reported at district offices, included follow-ups on appeal outcomes as well as applicants requesting transfers to schools that are no longer available on the system due to capacity.
MECs will be deployed to various schools across the province to oversee the smooth running of the first day of school.
The department said parents were accustomed to the online admission application process.
“We received more applications on the first day than all other years, which means that parents are getting used to the system,” it said.
“We applaud parents who applied on time for grade 1 and 8 online admissions for 2020.”
The department said they received and processed about 700 appeals, which were compounded by the implementation of the new admissions regulations.
“All appellants should receive their responses by 14 January and all appeals were carefully considered and fairly adjudicated,” the department said.
“The outcome of each appeal is based on compliance with admissions regulations and availability of space at schools.”
The department said the problem was “more capacity than the system”.
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“Parents are reluctant to accept offered spaces for different reasons,” they said.
“Unfortunately, we can only accommodate a certain number of learners at our schools. As such, we call upon parents to accept placement offers as these are the only spaces available at some schools.”
They will assess conditions at the schools to which they are deployed, as well as consult with communities on education-related matters.
“In addition, for the first time, they will also assess Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, as this function will now be a responsibility of the department,” it said.
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