JOHANNESBURG, May 2 (ANA) – The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) on Tuesday that around 28,000 grade one and eight learners were successfully registered on the online application system.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Gauteng MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi handed out pamphlets at the Orange Farm taxi rank encouraging parents to apply for their children and not leave it to last minute.
“We strongly advise parents to apply on time, we have a huge problem of immigration, parents bring their children to our schools in Gauteng,” Premier Makhura said during the official launch of the 2018 online admissions for Grade 1 and 8.
“If we know by mid June how many children we have to accommodate we are able to plan better.”
When the system launched in 2016 for 2017 applications, it crashed due to high volumes of parents logging in to apply for their children.
Lesufi said Orange Farm was chosen for the launch of the 2018 online applications because it was a trouble area during the previous application period.
Parents gathered at the Orange Farm Multi-purpose Centre to be assisted with applying for their children to ensure that their placed in a school next year.
“The process was fast and easy it took me about five minutes, I’m very happy,” said a parent who came to apply for her child.
Another parent, Pertunia Nkwanyana, who was assisted by MEC Lesufi to apply said that the process was efficient despite not being able to register for the school she wanted initially.
“The school I wanted wasn’t picked up on the system, but MEC Lesufi helped me apply for another option,” she said.
Lesufi said that their technical team would be working on schools that weren’t being picked up on the system.
“Parents must login and pick the schools they want, apply for more than one to have other options,” MEC Lesufi said.
The department is expecting more than 300,000 applications via their online application system for grade one and eight learners.
– African News Agency (ANA)
