Grades 1 & 8 Gauteng placements to start in September

Chiloane briefed the media at Hoërskool Menlopark in Pretoria on Sunday.

He said the department received more than 750,000 online admission applications for public schools in the province.  

"This translates into a total of 324 756 Grade 1 applications and 432 219 Grade 8 applications. This success can be attributed to system improvements over the years, which are necessitated by continuous stakeholder engagements and technological advancements.”

Chiloane said parents and guardians with complete applications will receive SMSs with placement offers from Monday.

"Parents/guardians will then have to log on to www.gdeadmissions.gov.za using their credentials to accept an offer as final OR accept while awaiting other offers within seven days (please avoid playing the waiting game).

“SMSs will be sent out on a continual basis from 4 September 2023 until all learners are placed. This means that not all applicants will receive an SMS on the first day of the placement period, but must expect an SMS anytime from 4 September 2023 and throughout the course of the year.

“If parents and guardians have not received an SMS, there is no need to panic as applicants are welcome to use their credentials to log on to www.gdeadmissions.gov.za to check whether a placement offer was issued.”

Chiloane said the department has identified schools, where the number of applications exceeds the capacity of pupils, they are able to accommodate.

"About 292 primary schools are regarded as high-pressure schools and about 277 secondary schools are regarded as high-pressure schools.”

Chiloane says interventions have been implemented to address admission and placement-related challenges in high-pressure schools.

 "As a further intervention to alleviate pressures caused by in-migration to the province and the resultant shortage of learning and teaching spaces, the GDE management has  devised a model of satellite schools whereby vacant land within high-admission pressure areas is acquired and transferred funds to a nearby well-functioning school to manage and build a satellite school.”

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