While the first day of enrollment for grade one and grade eight in Gauteng was largely stress-free for parents, there have been several reports of the system crashing.
The Gauteng Department of Education on Thursday opened school enrollments for the 2025 academic year. Applications are set to close on 12 August at midnight.
In previous years, parents have faced numerous hurdles when trying to secure a spot for their children in the province’s public schools. From technical glitches to long queues and missing documents, the enrollment process has previously been a stressful and frustrating experience for many.
The Citizen‘s staff members successfully applied for both grade eight and grade one on Thursday placements without encountering any issues, with the entire process taking approximately five to ten minutes to complete.
However, this was not the experience of many others who took to social media to complain of the system “crashing” and being “offline”. Among the other issues raised were passwords not resetting, profiles not being registered and parents not being able to select schools.
“Same issues every year for nine years now,” said one X user.
“Dear @EducationGP1, please look into the website, we can’t log in even after resetting passwords. It’s been frustrating from 8h00. The system is not working for us. Please intervene,” added another.
Attempts to contact the department for comment on the issues raised were not successful at the time of publishing, any update will be included once received.
There were reports of the system working better from 8:30, but this still raised concerns from parents.
“It started working at 8:30 yet we are told that the system is 100% in working order. How should we be confident that our children are going to be placed in the correct schools?”
Application process not running smoothly
Gauteng MEC for education Matome Chiloane on Wednesday said measures have been put in place to ensure a smoother process this year. However, this has not proven to be the case, with many parents complaining about glitches on the site.
Additionally, according to the Gauteng Department of Education admissions site, parents can apply online and upload required documents immediately, and those who encounter difficulties can opt to hand-deliver documents to schools.
“Documents not uploaded may be hand delivered to schools. All documents must be uploaded or submitted within seven days of submitting an application,” the information on the site reads.
THREAD: Here’s everything you need to know about the #2025OnlineAdmissionsGP for Grade 1 & Grade 8
NB: Parents & guardians have until 12 August 2024 at 00:00 AM to apply, so there’s no need to panic.
Earlier this year the online application system was blamed for thousands of children missing out on school.
Thousands of children in grade 8 and the first grade missed out on a week or more of school when schools opened in January.
Disgruntled parents eventually resorted to visiting the district offices in Ekurhuleni in large numbers, hoping to get placements for their children.
The online applications system, meant to ease the placement of pupils in Gauteng schools, was blamed for the more than 34,000 children who missed out on school.
Parents wanted the new system to be scrapped saying it is not working for them and their unregistered children.
“Thousands of pupils only get placed after re-applications, appeal processes and late placements and this year is no different,” said Alana Bailey, Head of Cultural Affairs at AfriForum.
Among the challenges, schools with capacity and some without were asked to take in extra pupils and assemble temporary classrooms. Capacity had been reached in most high schools.
THREAD: Here’s everything you need to know about the #2025OnlineAdmissionsGP for Grade 1 & Grade 8