The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) have revealed that more than 350 000 online admission applications have been successfully processed in the first four days of the system being active.
These applications were submitted by parents in the province hoping to secure the placement of their children who will be attending public schools in the province. The Online Admissions System is used exclusively for Grade 1 and Grade 8 public school applications.
“As of Monday, 25 July 2022, the GDE Online Admissions System recorded a total of 151,949 applications made for Grade 1 and 198,258 applications made for Grade 8. This brings the grand total of applications made to 350,207” said the GDE.
While the Online Admissions System was improved to make it easier for parents to submit applications, the department scrambled to fix issues related to a new location feature on the website. Click Here To Read About This Location Feature Challenge.
The provincial education department revealed that an average of 1700 calls per hour were recorded on the first day of the 2023 Online Admissions period. This has since dropped to around 350 calls per hour.
A WhatsApp line was also set up which parents could use if they experienced challenges with the application process. The GDE said that on the first day of applications being opened, 3,200 WhatsApp messages were received and around 7,200 enquiries were recorded on Monday.
“All these enquiries were efficiently managed by our team. It looks like the WhatsApp line is a game changer as more people prefer sending their enquiries through that medium” said the department.
If parents face challenges submitting applications, they are encouraged to call the GDE’s contact centre on 0800 000 789 or send a WhatsApp message to 060 891 0361.
Parents have until 19 August 2022 to submit their online applications. They can submit these applications online on the GDE’s online admissions website at http://www.gdeadmissions.gov.za .Alternatively, parents can visit one of the province's district offices or decentralised walk-in centres to submit applications.
