The Gauteng Department of Education said by lunch time on Tuesday 90,984 applications were processed through their grade one and eight online application system.
The 2018 online application process was launched Tuesday morning in Orange Farm, South of Johannesburg.
“We are pleased with the success of the online application system and humbled by the overwhelming response by the people of Gauteng.”
Gauteng Premier David Makhura along with MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi did a walkabout at the Orange Farm taxi rank, handing out pamphlets to parents about applying online.
“The feedback so far from the parents that have either used the system or go to an admission centre to apply online has generally been positive,” the department said in a statement.
Within 20 minutes of the system going live, over 16,000 parents had successfully applied online.
“The Department would like to urge all parents who do not have access to the internet to visit all 65 Admission Centres across Gauteng,” they said.
The GDE said that they identified a few technical glitches which included parents being told that their details already exist, error messages whilst applying and SMS’s without the reference number.
“We advise parents to reset their passwords, this might be caused by network problems in the area in which parents are applying. Parents are advised to refresh the system by pressing F5 or reboot. Our technicians are examining the cause of the problem. New SMS will be generated and sent to the affected parents, ” the department said.
As part of the system upgrades, other changes included increasing the capacity of applications per minute and making the process a once-off process instead of a two-step process.
“Parents are reminded to submit their documents to the school within seven days. If documents are not submitted within the stipulated period, the application cannot be completed.”
The closing date for application is the June 12, at midnight. The placement of learners will start from the 24 of July.
– African News Agency (ANA)
