The Gauteng department of education confirmed on Wednesday that it has successfully placed 268 192 grade 1 and 8 learners who applied using the online admission system.
This means a total of 135 465 grade 1 learners and 132 727 grade 8 learners have been placed in preparation for the 2023 academic year.
The department said it must be noted that after conducting a thorough analysis of its online admission system, it is unlikely that the remaining number of learners will be placed by the end of business on Wednesday, as purported in its previous communication to the public.
“Subsequently, only 31 549 [8 142 for grade 1 and 23 407 for grade 8] remain to be placed, and our officials across the province are working tirelessly to ensure that these learners are adequately placed,” the department said in a statement.
It said it has also strengthened its transfer placement system, meaning that the learners who could not be placed at preferred schools due to capacity constraints have been, and will continue to be, transferred to schools with available space.
The department will on Thursday commence with the process of placing all applicants who were unable to provide their proof of address during the application period.
It added that during this process, all applicants who submitted incomplete documents (proof of residential address) will be offered a placement at schools with available space. Parents will receive transfer placement offers via SMS, and they may also log on to the system to check their placement status.
The system will be open from December 20 until January 20 2023 for late applications, to accommodate parents who were unable to apply.
Education MEC Matome Chiloane has appealed to parents to be patient as the department finalises the placement of all unplaced learners.
“We wish to assure parents that when the 2023 academic year commences, we are adamant that every grade 1 and grade 8 learner in Gauteng will be at a desk with learning material in a class with an educator receiving quality education,” Chiloane said.
“As such, we appeal for patience among parents as we embark on the process of finalising the placement of all unplaced learners.”
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