Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says this year's online applications for grades 1 and 8 will follow a single process, allowing all applicants to apply at the same time during the application period.
He said this at a media briefing at Jeppe High School in Kensington, Johannesburg, on Thursday.
He added that the 2023 online admission system will open for grades 1 and 8 on Friday at 8am and close at midnight on August 19.
“Almost 40,000 people can apply at the same time,” he said.
He said this year will not be a separate process for grade 1 only or grade 8 .
Education head of department Edward Mosuwe said the system had been tested with the best technicians in the country.
“We have tested the system. Before it goes live, we put it into an operational environment and do a stress test. That is why we can talk to 40,000 concurrent users,” he said.
Lesufi conceded that overcrowding in the province’s schools is a huge hurdle, but said the system helps the department to know at which schools parents prefer to enrol their children.
“We have introduced a new form of budgeting in the department. Now where there is high demand, we allocate a budget to SGBs to build enough additional classrooms. We have been doing this for the past three years and it's a huge hit with the schools. They prefer that we give them a budget,” he said.
Lesufi said when parents start the application on Friday, the department will be able to find out which schools are going to be oversubscribed and they will allocate a certain budget to them.
The budget will subsequently help the school build new classrooms and the department will be in a better position to alleviate overcrowding.
Mosuwe said this year they expect about 460 new classrooms to be built through budget-allocation process. “This year we have transferred to the tune of R231m to schools to build new classrooms,” said Mosuwe.
Lesufi said due to huge developments in areas such as Akasia in Pretoria, the department is already oversubscribed but parents don’t want to school their children outside the area.
“The department and our planning team have identified the education sites, and we are starting the process of building new schools because the demand there is huge,” he said.
He said documentation and parents’ preferences were challenges the department faces. He said some schools would receive applications for three times more children than they could accommodate.
He said the biggest problem was when parents preferred a school because of its prestige, history or academic performance.
Another challenge was when parents didn't submit valid documents.
“For example, you live in a certain area but you go to your sister who lives closer to [your preferred] school and say, lend me your documents to apply — officials have a way to determine this is a fraudulent document,” Lesufi said.
Online system will handle pupil applications in one smooth move: Lesufi
Image: Gautend Department of Eduaction
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says this year's online applications for grades 1 and 8 will follow a single process, allowing all applicants to apply at the same time during the application period.
He said this at a media briefing at Jeppe High School in Kensington, Johannesburg, on Thursday.
He added that the 2023 online admission system will open for grades 1 and 8 on Friday at 8am and close at midnight on August 19.
“Almost 40,000 people can apply at the same time,” he said.
He said this year will not be a separate process for grade 1 only or grade 8 .
Education head of department Edward Mosuwe said the system had been tested with the best technicians in the country.
“We have tested the system. Before it goes live, we put it into an operational environment and do a stress test. That is why we can talk to 40,000 concurrent users,” he said.
Lesufi conceded that overcrowding in the province’s schools is a huge hurdle, but said the system helps the department to know at which schools parents prefer to enrol their children.
“We have introduced a new form of budgeting in the department. Now where there is high demand, we allocate a budget to SGBs to build enough additional classrooms. We have been doing this for the past three years and it's a huge hit with the schools. They prefer that we give them a budget,” he said.
Lesufi said when parents start the application on Friday, the department will be able to find out which schools are going to be oversubscribed and they will allocate a certain budget to them.
The budget will subsequently help the school build new classrooms and the department will be in a better position to alleviate overcrowding.
Mosuwe said this year they expect about 460 new classrooms to be built through budget-allocation process. “This year we have transferred to the tune of R231m to schools to build new classrooms,” said Mosuwe.
Lesufi said due to huge developments in areas such as Akasia in Pretoria, the department is already oversubscribed but parents don’t want to school their children outside the area.
“The department and our planning team have identified the education sites, and we are starting the process of building new schools because the demand there is huge,” he said.
He said documentation and parents’ preferences were challenges the department faces. He said some schools would receive applications for three times more children than they could accommodate.
He said the biggest problem was when parents preferred a school because of its prestige, history or academic performance.
Another challenge was when parents didn't submit valid documents.
“For example, you live in a certain area but you go to your sister who lives closer to [your preferred] school and say, lend me your documents to apply — officials have a way to determine this is a fraudulent document,” Lesufi said.
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