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Gauteng’s race against time to place 19 000 extra kids in grade 1 and 8

The Gauteng Department of Education is grappling with an influx of late online and walk-in applications for grades one and eight, leaving 19 000 kids without a school to date.

The department provided an update on the process to place children across schools in the province, a week after schools officially opened last week.

As of yesterday, a total of  7 092 late online applications are yet to be closed, while 12 821 walk-in applications were recorded, despite grade one and eight applications only being accepted through the department’s Admissions website.

Combined, unplaced online and walk-in applications total 19 913.

“To date, 312 088 applications were processed online and 304 996 learners have been placed, of which 175 827 are for Grade one and 136 088 for Grade eight,” Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi said.

The Department is prioritising placement of pupils that applied online, while walk-ins will have to wait until that process is complete before they’re attended to.

“We reiterate our deep sense of empathy with the parents whose children are still not placed and commit to accelerate placement to at least eliminate the backlog of online applications. Unfortunately, for parents that have just walked into our operations centres, this may take a while,” Lesufi said.

Limited spaces in high-demand schools

The issue of limited or no space in former Model C schools that are high in demand is what has been the department’s biggest mountain.

“This makes it hard to accommodate the child in the first school of choice of a parent. We appeal to parents to accept the offers being given by districts,” Lesufi said.

“Another reason has been administrative delays, for example, schools not updating placement data on time and the intense process of verifying the placement information submitted by schools to our districts. Districts had to ensure that schools followed the admission regulations and turned back submitted list where discrepancies were found,” he added.

To alleviate pressure in high-demand areas, the department is implementing a number on interventions including using libraries, halls and specialist rooms as learning spaces in the interim, neighbouring schools sharing unplaced pupils and the introduction of makeshift classrooms.

Online admissions to stay

Despite calls from frustrated parents for the online system to be scrapped, Lesufi said the department is not prepared to revert to the manual system.

“The department opted for the online applications for Grades one and eight for ease of planning and elimination of queues at schools by parents seeking to apply for their children. Despite the initial teething problems, the objectives set for the system have largely been met,” he said.

The department plans to continue with online applications in 2017 with respect to the 2018 academic year, for applications for Grades one and eight.

“Important lessons were recorded with the 2016 experience and the system will be refined to incorporate these lessons,” Lesufi said.

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