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Almost 150 000 placement offers already accepted
The Gauteng Education Department has issued over 293,000 Grade 1 and 8 placement offers to parents, with 105,193 offers still to be accepted.
Of the placement offers, 146,385 offers were made for Grade 1 and 146,672 for Grade 8.
MEC for Education in Gauteng, Matome Chiloane, said to date, 148,744 offers have been accepted.
“While placement offers are being sent out in batches, we remind parents this process will continue throughout the remainder of the year.”
Chiloane said parents must log on to the online admissions website (www.gdeadmissions.gov.za) within seven days of receiving an offer to either:
– Accept the offer as final (which places the learner at the school with no possibility of reversal)
– Provisionally accept while awaiting other offers.
“Accepting an offer keeps the child in the placement process while awaiting further offers. If a new offer is accepted, the previous one will be cancelled. If no further offers are made within seven days, the last accepted offer becomes final,” said Chiloane.
Placement offers will be issued continuously until all learners are placed.
“Parents who do not receive an SMS immediately should not panic, as they can log into the GDE website to check for placement updates.”
He added that if an SMS confirms a child’s placement at a specific school, no further action is required from the parent, as the child is considered placed at that school.
“All placements are subject to the availability of space and the priority placement criteria.”
If a school reaches capacity and cannot accommodate a learner, parents may receive a transfer offer for the next closest school with available space.
Parents can choose to accept or decline transfer offers.
Chiloane said parents should take note that, if an application status is marked as “application still being processed”, it means an offer will be made in due course, as such parents should not panic.
“We have also noted some concerns from parents whose application statuses changed from ‘Documents Verified’ to ‘No Documents Submitted’.”
This, according to Chiloane, is the result of a careful review process where submitted documents were checked for authenticity, legibility, and completeness.
“We urge parents to remain calm and patient while we continue to process applications and send out placement offers in stern accordance with the placement criteria.”
The placement criteria are as follows:
– Home address within the school’s feeder zone closest to the school.
– Sibling attendance or previous enrollment at the school.
– Work address within the school’s feeder zone.
– Home address within and beyond a 30km radius of the school.
Chiloane said applications flagged as “no documents submitted” will only be considered for placement during the late registration period from December 11.
“Parents who are not satisfied with received offers can submit objections using an online form within seven days of the offer.”
Objections will be reviewed, and outcomes provided within 14 days.
He said if they are unsatisfied with the objection outcome, parents can submit an appeal to the MEC within seven days, which will be resolved within 14-21 days. Appeals are final and binding.
If parents need assistance or clarification regarding their application or placement status, they can contact the GDE’s contact center at 0800 000 789 or via WhatsApp at 060 891 0361.
Additionally, parents can visit any of the 15 district offices for further support, where officials are ready to assist with any queries related to the admissions process.
“We remain committed to placing all learners fairly. We thank parents for their patience and cooperation as we work diligently to secure placements for learners in Gauteng public schools,” said Chiloane.
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