The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is insisting that the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) must open the online admissions for Grade 1 and Grade 8 for the 2024 academic year now in May to ensure that all learners are allocated to schools before the new academic year begins.
The department’s schedule is not working as they constantly fail to place learners in schools before the new academic year begins. This has resulted in thousands of learners missing months of schooling.
The DA has also proposed that the school placements be concluded before September. This will assist the department in planning the allocation of resources to the schools accordingly. It will also assist the parents in preparing and budgeting for stationery and uniforms and arranging transport for their children.
Following the department’s online admission schedule will repeat previous experiences where learners are deprived of access to education as they constantly fail to place learners in schools timeously. As a result, many learners miss out on valuable teaching and learning time due to late placement.
This has been made worse by glitches in the GDE online system, making it difficult for parents to choose their preferred schools for their children. In many instances, learners are placed in schools that their parents have not selected.
This year, the department failed to reach a 100% admission rate, resulting in parents and guardians taking their children to independent and private schools.
The DA will continue to exert pressure on the department to consider our proposal to benefit the learners and the schools to ensure that they deliver quality education.