The fight for school seats as department starts placing 700,000 pupils

24 June 2016 - 08:45 By SHENAAZ JAMAL

The Gauteng Department of Education is expected to start placing Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils from today.The application process closed earlier this month and the placement process is expected to conclude on July 25. The department must accommodate nearly 700,000 pupils. Parents will receive an automated SMS indicating the offer of placement - and letters will also be sent to them informing them of whether their application has been successful or not.Department spokesman Oupa Bodibe said: "Parents will be given a period of seven days to accept or reject placement offers."Parents who will not confirm acceptance or rejection of the offer will forfeit such an offer and the next parent will be placed in the available space."Bodibe was confident that all pupils would be placed despite the province only being able to accommodate 320000 new pupils.Earlier this year, Gauteng MEC for Education Phanyaza Lesufi said late applications would not be accepted. But these pupils will, in fact, be accommodated after those who applied on time have been placed...

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