The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has processed more than 350 000 online school admissions since the start of the application period on Friday.
A total of 350 207 Grade 1 and 8 online admissions applications have been successfully processed so far, the department reported.
The GDE Online Admissions System recorded a total of 151 949 applications made for Grade 1 and 198 258 applications made for Grade 8.
The call centre received an average of 1700 calls an hour related to the 2023 Online Admissions on Friday, with the GDE WhatsApp line received about 3 200 messages on the day.
About 350 calls were attended per hour, while about 7 200 enquires were recorded on Monday.
“Accordingly, all these enquiries were efficiently managed by our team. It looks-like the WhatsApp line is a game-changer as more people prefer sending their enquiries through that medium,” said Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona.
The 2023 online admissions application period for Grade 1 and Grade 8 will close at midnight on August 19.
To apply, parents and guardians must visit www.gdeadmissions.gov.za and register to create unique login credentials for their application profile.
“We urge all parents to either submit certified copies of the required documentation to the schools they applied to, or upload the documents onto the Online Admissions System. Applicants cannot both submit at schools and upload on to the system,” Mabona said.
For assistance with applying, applicants can contact the call centre on 0800 000 789 or send a WhatsApp to 060 891 0361.
Applicants who may not have internet access or the resources required to apply can visit their nearest district office or the departments Decentralised Walk-In Centres to be assisted.
“We are pleased at the progress our system has made in processing a large amount of applications. Indeed, improvement introduced to the system played a significant role in smooth running of the system. Parents and guardians can reach out to us on our respective platforms if they need assistance with applying,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
Education