GDE admission placement period extended

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This follows a surge of frustrated parents making their way to district offices on Sunday to enquire about the placement of their children.

“We are aware that some of our officials were assaulted, equipment and buildings vandalised. We wish to call upon parents to be calm and not use violence at our offices,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.

The admissions application period for the 2020 academic year commenced on 20 May 2019 and parents were granted seven additional days to submit documents until 22 July 2019.

During this period, a total of 310,350 applications were made for Grade 1 and Grade 8. Of these, 27,563 applicants have not submitted any documents, while 282,787 submitted documents as required.

The placement period commenced in September and was supposed to end on 31 October 2019.

“The placement period commenced on 23 September 2019 and is ongoing until all learners are placed. During this period, the department remains committed to placing the 282,787 who submitted documents.

“To date, 234,290 applicants are placed, while 43,797 are unplaced. It is concerning that, about 4,700 applicants have not yet accepted offers of placement,” said Lesufi.

The department urged parents to accept offers of placement as these spaces will not be available after a seven day period.

To date, 411 schools have reached capacity. Most of these schools have already extended their capacity to accommodate as many learners as possible.

“Applicants who cannot be accommodated at these schools are placed at schools with available space,” Lesufi said.

According to the department, admissions placement is prioritised in the order of the following categories:

• The applicant learner’s place of residence is closest to the school within the feeder zone
  
• The applicant learner has a sibling attending the school
  
• The place of employment of at least one of the applicant learner’s parents is within the feeder zone of the school
  
• The applicant learner’s place of residence is within a 30 km radius of the school
  
• The applicant learner’s place of residence is beyond a 30 km radius of the school

“To facilitate a fair placement process, the above criteria is strictly adhered to without fail, parents should therefore accept placement offered by the department as these cannot be changed,” Lesufi said.

Placement is made daily until all learners have been allocated schools.

Applicants who have not received any placement to date, are advised to logon to the system to view placement status and / or contact the nearest district office.

The system makes provision for parents who have lost their username and password (login credentials) through the “Forgotten password” link. To further assist parents who have forgotten login credentials, a Step-by-Step Guideline is provided as follows:

• Log on to ww.gdeadmissions.gov.za
  
• Click on login
  
• Click on forgot password
  
• Enter Parent ID or Passport number
  
• Click on recover account
  
• A token will be generated and sent to your registered cell number
  
• Re-enter Parent ID or Passport Number and the Token that was generated and sent to your cell phone via sms
  
• Enter Password
  
• Confirm Password
  
• Click Recover Account
  
• You will return to login screen to login with your new Password

Parents who do not have access to the internet, may visit the school or district office where they will be assisted.

“Parents should be rest assured that the department is obliged to place all learners, and as such all learners will be placed, however, it might not be at schools that they want. It must be noted that schools are making every effort to accommodate all in line with Admissions Regulations,” said the MEC.