Online school admissions stopped in its tracks for a week
Both organisations are concerned about the manner in which the online school registration platform is set up.
The online school registration kick-off for next year’s Grade 1 and 8 learners had been postponed from May 13 to May 20.
Spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Education, Steve Mabona, on Friday evening told Express: “There will be a press conference [with Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi] on Sunday at 10am to inform the media about the decision that has been made.”
“This emanates from correspondences received from the Federation of Associations of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS), Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysunie (SAOU) and AfriForum which threatened to stop the online admissions application from going live on Monday, May 13,” Mabona said in the statement.
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The civil rights watchdog AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement’s School Support Centre (SSC) issued a statement on Friday afternoon that they were informed that the Gauteng Department of Education would postpone the online applications to May 20 to make corrections to the application system.
“This after AfriForum and the SSC joined forces on May 5 to send an urgent letter from their legal team to the Gauteng Department of Education regarding the failings of the online school registration platform,” said Carien Bloem, AfriForum’s project coordinator for education.
“We welcome the department’s decision to create room by postponing the process to correct problems with the system,” said Melanie Buys, head of systems at the SSC.
Both organisations are concerned about the manner in which the online school registration platform is set up.
“The system makes no provision for parents to choose which school is their first choice. The school located geographically closest to the parents’ residential address is simply provided as the primary choice, irrespective of the school’s language, subject selection or even hostel options.,” said Bloem.
“With an urgent letter from its legal team, AfriForum and the SSC asked that the system be adapted or the process be postponed until the system could be revised so parents could make a choice based on these aspects.
“Further, both organisations feel strongly that any learners already registered for Grade R at a primary school for this year must also be given preference for Grade 1 placement at the same primary school for 2020.”
Both organisations believe any learners already registered for Grade R at a primary school for 2019 must be given preference for Grade One placement in 2020.
