Pretoria - The Gauteng Provincial Government says registrations for Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners have started off on a positive note.
The province today officially launched the 2018 online admissions for Grade 1 and 8.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi started with a blitz as early as 6am and proceeded to assist parents at one of the admission centres in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg.
“We are pleased with the success of the online application system and humbled by the overwhelming response by the people of Gauteng.
“The feedback so far from parents that have either used the system or visited an admission centre to apply online has generally been positive,” said Premier Makhura.
Within 20 minutes of opening, over 16 000 parents had successfully applied online. At lunch time, 90 984 total applications were processed through the system.
The Gauteng Education Department has urged all parents, who do not have access to the internet, to visit all 65 admission centres across the province. The centres opened at 8am today.
Parents also have the option of visiting community libraries and Thusanong centres in Gauteng.
System glitches
- A few minor problems have been identified, including:
- Parents being told that their details already exist. In this case, parents are advised to reset their passwords.
- Parents receiving error messages while applying. This might be caused by network problems in the area in which parents are applying. Parents are advised to refresh the system by pressing F5 or reboot. Technicians are examining the cause of the problem.
- System not picking up some schools.
- Parents receiving SMS without a reference number. New SMS will be generated and sent to the affected parents.
- However, most of these have been resolved. Problems were resolved swiftly as soon as parents alerted the department.
- Parents are also urged to use Google Chrome to access the online website, as is it faster than other search engines.
The call centre is currently offline and the network is down due to a fire that occurred over the weekend at the Provincial Education Department’s office at 111 Commissioner Street.
System updates
The Gauteng Department of Education, made the following changes to the system:
- Increased capacity to handle at least 150 000 concurrent applications per minute.
- Application process has been reduced to a once-off process rather a two-step process of registering a profile and then applying a week later. This has made the system user-friendly.
Parents are reminded to submit their documents to the school within 7 days. If documents are not submitted within the stipulated period, the application cannot be completed.
Parents that have not yet applied for Grade 1 and 8 must do so as soon as possible.
The closing date for application is 12 June at midnight. The placement of learners will start from 24 July.
Parents with learners in Grade 2 - 7 and Grade 9 - 11 are reminded of re-enrollment at the school. – SAnews.gov.za
