By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Gauteng Department of Education announced on Sunday that the 2025 online admissions application deadline for Grade 1 and Grade 8 had been extended to August 14, 2024.
This extension follows the State Information Technology Agency’s (SITA) upgrade of its data centre electrical infrastructure, which necessitated a complete shutdown of all applications and equipment at the SITA Centurion Data Centre on Thursday.
As a result of this maintenance, the online admissions system in Gauteng was temporarily inaccessible to applicants. The restoration of all equipment and services at the data centre is scheduled for Sunday.
The online admissions application period was initially set to close on Monday, August 12, 2024.
Education MEC Matome has assured parents across the province that their children will be placed in schools for the 2025 academic year.
Chiloane provided an update on the online admission application process at a briefing in Kempton Park on Sunday.
“To accommodate those affected by this downtime, the application deadline for Grade 1 and Grade 8 has been extended to (Wednesday) August 14, 2024, ensuring that all parents and guardians have sufficient time to complete the application process. The online admissions system (https://www.gdeadmissions.gov.za) is expected to be accessible after August 11, 2024, once SITA has restored all equipment and services,” Chiloane said.
“We are excited to announce that as of Friday, 9 August 2024, a total of 768,666 Grade 1 and Grade 8 applications are submitted for admission to the 2025 academic year.”
The number of applications for Grade 1 stood at 325,712 while for Grade 8 learners the total was at 442,954 bringing the total to 768,666.
“Parents and guardians who have already applied to schools are reminded that certified copies of documents must be submitted to schools or uploaded by 12 noon on August 21, 2024. A certified copy of the proof of home address is an essential document as it is used to determine placement. Applicants who have not submitted or uploaded certified copies of proof of home address by August 21, 2024, will have incomplete applications and therefore, will not receive any placement offers,” said Chiloane.
“Applicants who uploaded or submitted fraudulent or invalid documents will forfeit the opportunity to receive placement offers.”
Chiloane said the placement of pupils would start on September 16.
“This is when the first batch of communication will go out, parents will start getting SMSs of placement offers, and this will continue until the last learner.”
Parents are also required to submit proof of home address, proof of work address, the most recent Grade 7 school report for Grade 8 applicants, or the clinic card/immunisation report for Grade 1 applicants only.
Chiloane said the following documents are accepted as proof of home address: for homeowners – municipal account documents not older than three months in the name of the applicant parent, bearing the full residential address.