Deadline looming for Gauteng 2020 schools online admissions

The Gauteng education department has warned parents that the online application period for 2020 admissions to schools in the province, which opened on May 20, will close at midnight on Monday.

“We would like to caution parents who have not yet applied for admission of learners to be admitted to Grade 1 and Grade 8 in 2020 that they have exactly one school day to apply online before the admissions application period closes,” education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said in a statement on Sunday.

Gauteng 2020 schools online admissions

Applications could be made by logging on to www.gdeadmissions.gov.za or by visiting the nearest school, district, or head office for assistance.

“As a province, we are pleased that the parent population and stakeholders in Gauteng have embraced the use of the online application. This groundbreaking online application has provided the department with credible and reliable information. We will, therefore, continue to enhance this system and link it to other existing government systems to further strengthen the credibility of the information attained,” Lesufi said.

The highest number of applications was recorded when the system went live on May 20. A total of 220,802 (Grade 1 – 105,241 and Grade 8 – 115,561) applications were made, which reflected an increase of 146,964 (67 percent) compared to the opening day of admissions in 2019, when 73,838 (Grade 1 – 39,212 and Grade 8 – 34,626) applications were registered.

As at July 17, 2019, a total of 298,003 (Grade 1 – 154,264 and Grade 8 – 143,739) applications were registered for the 2020 academic year.

“[However] We are deeply disturbed that 62,028 of the 298,003 applicants have not submitted the required documents to schools. Parents will not receive offers of placement from schools where no documents were submitted,” Lesufi said.

To accommodate parents who could not submit documents within seven days following the application, and those who made applications during the school holidays, provision had been made for schools to accept documents until 2pm on July 31.

No further extension would be granted. Parents should submit documents to all the schools that they applied to. When submitting documents, parents should receive a receipt to acknowledge the submission of documents accordingly, he said.

The placement period for admission 2020 would start on August 30 and close on October 31.

How to apply

Placement offers would be sent to parents via SMS until October 31. Parents should accept offers online by logging on to www.gdeadmissions.gov.za, or by visiting the nearest school, district, or head office within seven days. If the parent did not accept one offer of placement within seven days, the pupil would automatically be placed at one of the schools that made the offer.

“Furthermore, parents are advised that the waiting list numbers allocated (WA1 to WA4) will not be the basis to allocate placement. Information in the system and documents provided will be considered to justify placement offers,” Lesufi said.

By African News Agency (ANA), editing by Jacques Keet.