Pretoria - The learner placement process for Grades 1 and 8 in Gauteng will officially begin on September 4 after the Education Department received 757 075 applications for the 2024 academic year.
Gauteng MEC of Education Matome Chiloane gave an update about online applications during a media briefing yesterday at Hoërskool Menlopark in Pretoria.
“We received 757 075 applications this year, which translates to 324 000 Grade 1 and 422 219 Grade 8 applications,” he said.
However, he said the applications that were viable for placement in Grade 1 were 129 554 and for Grade 8 141 406.
“In total it is 270 000, if you combine them. Those are the applications that met the requirements. They have complied; the parents submitted all the necessary documents and the schools have accepted them,” he said.
There were, however, 7 484 incomplete applications from parents who “just submitted a name and no documents”.
At least 8 444 applicants for Grade 1 submitted partially, meaning they submitted all documents, but didn’t submit a viable home address.
In total there were 15 000 incomplete applications for Grade 1 and 19 000 incomplete applications for Grade 8, which will not be eligible for placement at this current period.
Chiloane said those with incomplete applications would have to wait for the next process after the placement of complete ones.
“From September 4 we will be issuing SMSes to parents and they will have seven days to accept the space,” he said.
He urged parents not to delay in accepting an offer as a final or accept while awaiting other offers within seven days.
He said the criteria for placement included home address within the school feeder zone, siblings and previous school, work address within school feeder zone, home address within 30km radius and home address within (or) beyond 30km radius.
The department was still grappling with “high-pressure” schools which received the highest numbers of applications beyond their admission capacity.
At least 292 primary and 277 secondary secondary schools have been identified as “high-pressure” schools.
Laerveld Akasia in Tshwane topped the first 20 primary schools categorised as high-pressure schools. The school has a capacity of only 246, but it received 1 476 applications.
It was followed by Palmridge Primary School in Ekurhuleni and the third was Laerskool Rachel de Beer in Tshwane West.
Katlehong manufacturing, transport and logistics schools of specialisation topped the high schools in terms of the highest numbers of applications and this was followed by Hoerskool Langenhoven in Tshwane West.
Chiloane said interventions in place to address admission and placement-related challenges included the provision of basic services to all schools, the construction of new and replacement schools, transfers of funds to schools that have demonstrated sound governance and financial capabilities for the self-build programme.
Other interventions were the procurement of mobile classrooms and the re-purposing and rehabilitation of facilities that had been previously closed in admission-pressured areas. He said for this year alone the education system in Gauteng grew by about 24 000 learners, attributed to migration of people from rural to urban areas.
The department has an appeal mechanism in place for applicants offered placement at schools they had not applied to have the option to accept or decline the placement offer.
To submit an objection, Chiloane said, the parent declines the placement offer and completes an electronic objection form online.
“Objections must be submitted within seven days of receiving the placement offer. Note that when placement is offered at one of the schools that the parent applied to, objections and appeals are not applicable.
“All objections are investigated on merit and an outcome is provided within 14 days of submission. Applicants who decline the objection outcome may submit an appeal online within seven days of receiving the objection outcome. Appeals are processed and responded to within 14 to 21 days of receipt. Parents must note that the appeal outcome is final,” he said.
Pretoria News