Staff Reporter.
The Gauteng department of education (GDE) has announced that 571 pupils in Grades 1 and 8 whose parents submitted complete application on the online admissions system remain to be placed.
This translates to 97 Grade 1 pupils and 474 Grade 8 pupils who departmental officials are working towards placing.
“This simply means that the 2023 Online Admissions system has successfully facilitated the placement of over 291 574 Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils (Grade 1: 139 367 and Grade 8: 152 207) to date,” said the department.
Gauteng Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said they were doing their best to control the situation.
“We are working closely with the schools to increase capacity as they receive mobile units.
“Those that are building will also be monitored very closely and they can assist the department to increase capacity and we are working tirelessly to respond to all the appeals that have been lodged with the department we are finalizing that in due course, “said Mabona.
“To alleviate capacity pressure, the GDE is building satellite schools in high-pressure areas. These are schools which are an extension of certain high-pressure schools, but are built on a different site or geographical area not far from the main school.
“In Johannesburg West, we have already built a satellite school for Florida High School, meaning that we will continue to place pupils at that school.
“The same applies for Tshwane West, where two satellite schools currently under construction, Theresapark Primary School No. 2 and Theresapark Secondary School.
“In Ekurhuleni, especially in Kempton Park, high-pressure schools will use specialist rooms for teaching, and these have helped significantly to increase capacity. Olifantsfontein Primary School will be assisted with the delivery of more mobile classrooms to accommodate all unplaced learners at that school.”
“Parents who seek to apply for other grades outside of Grade 1 and Grade 8 are strongly encouraged to visit their nearest GDE [Gauteng Department of Education] district office after our 10-day headcount on 24 January 2023.”