The online admissions application period for the 2023 academic year has closed, according to the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). As they wait for the following steps, parents are hoping to find places for the upcoming school year.
According to the Gauteng Department of Education’s Amendments to Admissions Regulations, the Head of Department must identify successful and unsuccessful applicants for admission to the class of 2023 within 21 school days of the application period’s conclusion.
Applicants are to be notified through an SMS or on the department’s online application system whether they have been accepted for admission at one of the schools that they had applied to.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) Minister Panyaza Lesufi has shared that the Education Department’s 2023 online admissions placement period began on 3 October 2023 and will end on 30 November 2023.
In an interview, the Head of Department, Mr Edward Mosuwe, said:
We will prioritise those that have applied on time and then get them placed.
It is during this time that parents and caregivers are required to accept placement offers within seven days. As per the department’s regulations, unsuccessful applicants are to be provided with written reasons for the failure of their application, also for them to be informed in writing of their right to object and appeal.
However, Lesufi has assured applicants that they don’t have to be worried should they not receive confirmation from the department in the next few days, as the placement process folds over until the end of November 2023.
Should parents receive no communication whatsoever, they have been advised to forward their query by calling the GDE’s contact center on 0800 000 789 or sending a text message on the department’s WhatsApp number on 060 891 0361.
Mosuwe has explained that late applications have negative implications such as more pressure on the education department to find schools with space to accommodate the learner, which in most cases is out of the 5km radius, this will then result in additional costs to ferry in between home and school.
This was the ordeal of most Provincial Education Departments at the beginning of 2023 as many learners were unplaced.
