Jenna Etheridge
Parents only have until today midnight to apply online for Grade 1 and Grade 8 placements, the Gauteng Education Department has said.
The department’s online system will shut down at time 00:00 as we enter into the new day.
Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said parents who had already applied were reminded to urgently submit the required documents to schools.
“As a special concession, schools will accept documents only up to 14:00 on 5 June 2018. Failure to submit documents will lead to applicants forfeiting their positions in the queue.”
A total of 535 064 applications have been processed since applications opened online on April 16.
Most of the decentralised admission centres were flooded on the first day of applications.
‘High-pressure’ schools
Mabona said the few errors that were encountered were resolved immediately.
In some cases, people had applied for the wrong grade, entered the incorrect addresses or lost/forgot their login credentials.
At this stage, the demand seemed to exceed the number of available spaces at almost 600 schools.
Nine of the top 10, “high-pressure” schools are high schools.
The top high-pressure schools are Alberton High School, Boksburg High School, Sir John Adamson High School in Winchester Hills, Mondeor High School, Pretoria High School for Girls, Hoërskool Akasia in Heatherdale, Hoërskool President in Ridgeway, Northcliff High School, Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz in Pretoria North and Laerskool Akasia in Pretoria.
Schools which have low numbers of applications were all in poorer suburbs.
“It is concerning that in the last two years, many parents in townships waited for the late application period and flooded [Gauteng Department of Education] offices in January to apply for their children,” said Mabona.
Parents were warned that those who did not meet the deadline were at risk of having their children out of school in January 2019.
The placement process will take place between July 18 and October 31.
“Parents should note that availability of space is the key determinant of how many children can be placed in a school. Placement will be conducted in compliance with admissions criteria and on a first-come-first-served basis.”
Parents will receive SMS notifications regarding the status of their applications.
Schools will send offers of placement to parents between July 18 and August 3.
These offers have to be confirmed within seven working days of receipt thereof, or the space offered will be forfeited.
From August 6 to October 31, districts will help place pupils who cannot be placed by schools.
“We are indebted to all parents who have heeded to our call and applied in numbers, the response from the public was indeed overwhelming. We encourage those that have applied to conform to the stipulated deadline,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
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