NT16LESEGOfeedback
JOBURG – The Gauteng Department of Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi gave feedback after the online pupil admission website went live on 19 April.
The MEC said that the online system went live at 2.30pm even though it was scheduled for 8am. “Contrary to some media reports the system did not crash but there was a delay in activating it,” said Lesufi.
The Department is happy with how the system has been running and within a period of 18 hours, more than 188 000 parents had successfully processed their applications. “They have all received feedback from the system which has provided them with a reference number indicating whether they are on Waiting list A or B,” said Lesufi. He said that this means more than 50 per cent of expected applications have been processed through the site.
Once again the system experienced high demand and at 3.17pm on 19 April, 37 800 logins per second were recorded.
The MEC said that these statistics give the department confidence and hope that indeed parents have heeded their call to register their children online.
“We are, however, concerned that there were 13 unsuccessful attempts to hack the system since the launch,” said Lesufi. The MEC said that the objectives of those behind these attempts remain a mystery to the department and that they have been assured by their technicians that the system is well secured to prevent attempts of this nature.
Lesufi said the department acknowledge that there might be a few glitches in the system. Some parents who tried applying online have received some error messages and as a result they could not proceed with their applications. “We are indeed touched by the frustration of these parents and share their pain,” he said. The department has noted their concerns and have put in place contingency measures to address their concerns.
The department is deploying 8 500 officials to schools within the province to assist parents load their details online. These officials have been provided with laptops, 3G cards and technicians to assist parents. They have re-programmed the system to provide a step-by-step process which parents can follow in the event where they received an error message. The department has also extended their call centre hours to between 7.30am to 6pm during weekdays and from 7am to 2pm over the weekend.
Parents must note that the system will be shutdown daily between 2am and 4am to allow for system upgrades.
“We remain hopeful that this system will provide us with accurate statistics to ensure that on day one of the 2017 academic year, all schools are provided with adequate resources to ensure that teaching and learning begins in earnest on the first day of schooling,” said Lesufi.
