Johannesburg – The DA in Gauteng has welcomed the extension of the closing date for online admissions for the 2024 academic year for learners in Grades 1 to 8.
DA Gauteng shadow MEC for education Khume Ramulifho urged all parents and guardians to use this opportunity to apply for their children's placement.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) announced that online admissions would close on July 21, 2023, as opposed to the initial deadline of July 14, to allow parents to submit all necessary documents in time.
"We are pleased that GDE has already processed over 400 000 applications for Grades 1 and 8 learners. The department must ensure that the remaining applications are processed accordingly with urgency," said Ramulifho.
Ramulifho said that the party demanded that GDE ensured all learners who applied on time were placed before the end of October.
"We also encourage parents to use this opportunity to ensure that no learner of school-going age will be sitting at home when the academic year starts next year," Ramulifho said.
"We believe this process will meet parents' expectations to place learners closer to where they stay or work. This will ensure learners can participate in extracurricular activities such as culture, the arts, and sports. This process must ensure that learners don't spend most of their time commuting to and from school," he added.
The Star