Gauteng education department receives more than 28,000 late applications as 2025 school year starts

16 January 2025 - 14:23
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MEC Matome Chiloane says they have received more than 28,000 late applications.
MEC Matome Chiloane says they have received more than 28,000 late applications.
Image: Veli Nhlapo

The number of late applications for admissions in grades 1 and 8 in Gauteng schools has doubled since Tuesday. 

By Thursday the Gauteng education department had received more than 28,000 applications for grades 1 and 8. 

MEC Matome Chiloane told Newzroom Afrika that with late applications the system shows the available schools and space and parents submit the documents and take the offer. Some parents, however, would then go to the district office and complain that they could not take the particular school. 

Reasons could be school fees or the distance from home. “This is what you see in those schools, but also the in-between grades. Those are huge numbers. I am talking about [grades] 2 to 7 and 9 to 12,” said Chiloane.

Those are the new numbers we have because those parents go to schools, they get on the waiting list and then because they will not get joy because of the waiting list, they will have to go to the district for support.  

“For those parents, I am appealing for patience — that we will place your child — and we are aware of the challenge we have in that regard because schools have long waiting lists, but we will place your child at a school where the parents and the district will be comfortable that this school is fine.”

Chiloane said the deadline for late applications is the end of January and that is when they would know the final numbers.

“The last day of January, that is when we will know how many — the full figure, but usually it goes up to almost 40,000. If we are sitting at 28,000, we are aware that about 14,000 more will be registering in the next few days.”

He added that the first 10 days in every academic year are the days they use to settle the system and only afterwards will they be able to resolve the problem. 

After the placement of pupils last year, the department received about 6,900 appeals about placement offers. Those were pupils placed in schools they did not apply for as the ones they applied for were full.  

Of the 6,900, most parents took the placement offers given to them.

With fees, we have a process in place where we examine parents. The exemption is a process — parents apply and then we will look and then we finalise in that respect.”

TimesLIVE 


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