By Thapelo Molefe
The wait is almost over for anxious parents and guardians who want to know where their children will be placed for the 2025 academic year.
The Gauteng Education Department has confirmed that the online admissions for Grade 1 and 8 start on Monday.
The department said on Sunday 828,364 applications were submitted during the application period, which ran from 11 July to 14 August. Of these, 325,858 were complete applications and would receive placement offers from tomorrow.
Parents and guardians could expect to receive SMS notifications with placement offers, which must be accepted within seven school days.
The department has cautioned that not all applicants would receive an SMS on the first day, but successful applicants could expect a notification throughout the year.
“The placement offers will be made based on the priority of placement criteria and availability of space per school,” the department said in a statement.
The priority criteria include a home address within the school’s feeder zone, sibling or previous school attendance, work address within the school’s feeder zone, home address within a 30km radius, and home address beyond 30km.
The department has identified 292 primary schools and 277 secondary schools as high-pressure schools, having received an overwhelming number of applications.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane said there were 19,032 incomplete applications and they would not receive offers of placement until they had placed all the applicants with completed applications.
“We have capacity to place 430,446. This number seems as if we can place everyone, but these spaces are not where people are, so that is where the challenge is,” Chiloane told reporters.
To accommodate all applicants, the department has made provision for transfer offers to schools with available space.
Parents can log on to http://www.gdeadmissions.gov.za/ to view their application status and accept placement offers. Assistance is also available at district offices and schools.
The placement period will run throughout the remainder of the year until all learners are placed.
INSIDE EDUCATION
