The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) says 350 207 Grade 1 and 8 online admission applications have been successfully processed since the start of the application period on Friday, 22 July.
As of Monday, the department said its Online Admissions System recorded a total of 151 949 applications made for Grade 1 and 198 258 applications made for Grade 8. This brings the total of applications made to 350 207.
On 22 July, the GDE call centre received an average of 1 700 calls per hour related to the 2023 online admissions.
“Today, about 350 calls were attended per hour. In addition, on Friday, the GDE WhatsApp line received about 3 200 messages, while today, about 7 200 enquiries were recorded.
“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,” the GDE said on Monday.
The 2023 Online Admissions application period for Grade 1 and 8 will close on 19 August 2022 at midnight.
To apply, parents and guardians must visit www.gdeadmissions.gov.za and register to create unique login credentials for their application profile.
The department has urged 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 submit at schools and upload onto the system.
Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, said the department is pleased at the progress its system has made in processing the large amount of applications.
“Indeed, improvement introduced to the system played a significant role in the smooth running of the system. Parents and guardians can reach out to us on our respective platforms if they need assistance with applying,” said Lesufi.
For assistance with applying, applicants are welcome to contact the department’s call centre on 0800 000 789 or WhatsApp on 060 891 0361.
Applicants, who do not have internet access or the resources required to apply, are urged to visit their nearest district office or the department’s decentralised walk-in centres to be assisted.
Source: South African Government News Agency