Admissions, which opened on May 20, will officially close at midnight on Monday, the Gauteng Department of Education has warned.

“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,” department spokesperson Steve Mabona said in a statement.

Applications can 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 ground-breaking 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,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.

The highest number of applications to date

Lesufi said the highest number of applications to date was recorded for admissions 2020 when the system went live on May 20.

According to Lesufi, a total of 220 802 applications had been received, which reflects an increase of 146 964 (67%) applications compared to the opening day of admissions 2019.

By Wednesday, a total of 298 003 applications were registered for the 2020 academic year.

“The department has been reasonable and considerate to allow for the first time in the history of online admissions in Gauteng, that the application period remained open for applications during the June/July school holidays, essentially allowing parents an additional 15 weekdays to make applications,” Lesufi said.

“Our records reflect that parents took full advantage of this opportunity, as 8 069 applications were registered during that period.”

However, Lesufi said the department was “deeply disturbed” that 62 028 of the 298 003 applicants have not submitted the required documents to schools.

No extensions

“Parents will not receive offers of placement from schools where no documents were submitted. However, to accommodate parents that could not submit documents within seven days following the application and those who made applications during the school holidays, provision has been made for schools to accept documents until July 31 at 14:00.

“No further extension will be granted. Parents must submit documents to all the schools that they applied to. When submitting documents, parents must receive a receipt to acknowledge the submission of documents accordingly.”

According to the department, the placement period for 2020 admissions will commence on August 30 and close on October 31.

“It must be noted that placement offers will not be sent to all parents on the same day, as the department will be processing offers systematically daily in line with the order of application options outlined in the admissions regulations.

“Placement offers will be sent to parents until on October 31. Parents are therefore urged to remain calm if they do not receive offers immediately after the commencement of the placement period.”

Parents were urged to follow up after October 31 should they not receive any offer of placement.

Placement offers will be sent to parents via SMS. However, parents must 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 does not accept one offer of placement within seven days, the learner will automatically be placed at one of the schools that made the offer. Parents are therefore urged to accept offers as soon as they are received,” Lesufi said. DM