Johannesburg - Parents seeking admission into provincial schools in 2024 have been urged to accept placement offers within seven school days to avoid their children starting the new academic year late.
Starting today, a total of 228 027 parents with complete applications will, according to the Gauteng Department of Education, begin receiving offers of placement from the department for Grades 1 and 8 for the coming academic year.
According to the department, of these numbers, 99 854 had been accepted as final from one of the schools applied to, while 1 662 had accepted the offers while awaiting further offers.
Despite the hopeful figures, the department's spokesperson, Steve Mabona, said the department was concerned about the high number of parents who had not responded to the placement offers.
Mabona said there were 126 511 parents who had not accepted offers to date.
He urged parents to accept within seven school days. As for those who did not accept within the stipulated time, the system would auto-place learners at the school with a placement offer closest to the parent's home address.
The department stressed that placement offers not accepted would, as a result, be transferred to schools with available space, taking into consideration the home address, whether there were other siblings within the school, and the previous school within the feeder zone of the school applied to.
Khume Ramulifho, the DA spokesperson for education, echoed the same sentiments as the department and urged parents and guardians to promptly accept their children’s placement offer.
He further called on the department to ensure timely communication with all parents, as he cited previous experiences where some parents complained of not receiving the SMS of placements, which resulted in learners not being placed on time.
‘’We will monitor the progress of the placement process to ensure that all learners who applied on time are placed. We will also continue to put pressure on the department to ensure that the process is transparent, all parents are treated equally, and there is constant communication between parents and the department on placement issues.’’
The Star