Johannesburg - Parents who are still looking for places in Gauteng’s public schools for next year must accept that their children might not be accepted at the school of their choice.
When briefing the media on the province’s readiness for next year, Education MEC Barbara Creecy said on Wednesday the department had so far processed 131 000 Grade 1 and 114 546 Grade 8 applications for the 2014 intake.
“Parents must be aware that most popular schools are full, so not everyone will get their first choice,” she said.
Creecy urged parents who were still looking for placement to approach admission centres that have been set up at the province’s 15 district offices and at the Gauteng Department of Education’s head office.
The districts and head office will facilitate the placements – not the schools, she noted.
Creecy said parents must not wait until January to finalise their children’s placements. District offices would remain open even after schools close for the December holidays.
The admission centres had processed 600 queries so far, she added.
Although the department’s circular on this round of admissions stated that parents had until August 8 to appeal against rejections, Creecy said her office would accept and process all appeals until all placements had been finalised.
She said her office had received 48 appeals so far, 47 of which had been attended to.
“While we may not be able to accommodate all learners in their school of preference, we will endeavour to fulfil our constitutional obligation to offer a school place to all of Gauteng’s learners.” - The Star