Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi, apologised for the inconveniences that have arisen from a system failure in the online pupil registration website meant for Grade One and Grade Eight pupils.
The website at which the registration process takes place crashed on April 11 due to system overload.
Lesufi said the system experienced a highly unanticipated usage on the day of the launch.
“It experienced over 600 applicants per second which led it to crash.
He apologised to parents, who out of frustration caused by the system crash, attempted to contact the department for assistance and could not get through.
“Our call centre recorded over 3 000 calls on Monday (April 11) when the system went live and as a result we could not attend to all calls that came through,” said Lesufi.
Since April 11, GDE technicians worked tirelessly to address technical issues that caused the system to collapse.
“The capacity of the system was increased to manage large quantities of applicants – it can now manage 3 000 applicants per second,” said Lesufi.
Since the day of the launch, 22 000 people have managed to register.
During registration parents were required to create a profile e.g. creating username, password and entering personal information and details of their children.
This profile is important to transacting on the system and for the department to communicate with the parents.
Should registrants experience any challenges, they’re urged to contact the department via email on gdeinfo@gauteng.gov.za or telephonically on (011) 355 0966/0559/0198/0600 or the toll free number 0800 000 789.
Parents who do not have access to the internet have options of going to schools to be assisted by technicians to register and apply online, visit help desks in our district offices, visit Thusanong Centres or connect through free Wi-Fi hot pots.
The actual application period started today (April 19) at 10am to midnight on June 1.
