Gauteng parents have been warned not to delay in accepting the school allocation for their children as they could face automatic placement to speed up the process.
Education MEC Matome Chiloane urged parents to decide on the school for their children quickly as it was holding up the system for other parents waiting for notification from the department.
Chiloane said some parents whose children had been offered a place at a school said, “this is not what I wanted”.
“You can’t do that. Those who can appeal are those who are placed at a school they didn’t apply for — those parents have the right to appeal.
“Parents delay. They get offered these spaces and most of the time when they apply they want a particular school. When they apply, they have to put three preferred schools but they just add another two, but their hearts are set on one.
“When we place them in any of the other two and not the one they wanted, they appeal,” Chiloane said.
He warned the department would automatically place applicants after the 7-day acceptance period ended.
Chiloane said this automatic placement process had already begun “because when you are offered two places the system knows those two are occupied”.
He explained to free up the space at the one school, the child needed to be placed at another one, according to the system.
The Gauteng Education Department has offered places to 159 070 Grade 1 and 8 pupils for the 2023 academic year.
So far, 87 608 pupils have been offered places in Grade 1 and 71 462 in Grade 8.
A total of 173 487 applicants for both grades are yet to be placed.
Chiloane urged anxious parents waiting for placements for their children to remain calm and promised that all learners would be placed in a school before the next academic year began.
Placement offers will be made until November 30.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Education