The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) wishes to remind parents and guardians that the 2023 Online Admissions application period for Grade 1 and Grade 8 closes at midnight on Friday, August 19.

The GDE urges parents who have not made their application to visit www.gdeadmissions.gov.za to register and apply urgently as the Online Admissions System will shut down at midnight.

A total of 748 485 Grade 1 and Grade 8 applications have been successfully recorded to date since the start of the 2023 Online Admissions application period on Friday, July 22.

As of this morning, the GDE Online Admissions System recorded a total of 323 294 applications made for Grade 1, and 448 168 applications made for Grade 8. This brings the grand total of applications made to 748 485,” said GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona.

“Parents/ guardians who have applied today (August 19), but have not uploaded documents, are urged to upload urgently or physically submit their documents at all schools applied to within seven school days. The deadline for this will be August 30. Documents cannot be uploaded on the system after August 19 when the 2023 Online Admissions application period ends.

“Applications for Grade 1 and/ or Grade 8 that are made with no documents submitted or uploaded will be considered as incomplete and will only receive placement offers at schools with available space from December 1 to 15.

“After applying, parents and guardians will begin receiving SMSes with placement offers during the placement period from October 3 to October 31. These placement offers must be accepted within seven school days. Offers will be sent to the cell phone numbers that parents used when applying. Therefore, parents are urged not to change or lose their numbers after applying.”

The GDE said placement offers are made based on the following criteria in order of priority:

1. Home address within the school’s feeder zone

2. Sibling/ previous schools

3. Work address within school’s feeder zone

4. Home address within 30km radius

5. Home address beyond 30km radius

We encourage applicants who require assistance with applying or have any application-related enquiries to contact our call centre on 0800 000 789 or WhatsApp us on 060 891 0361.”

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi concluded, “We are proud that our innovative Online Admissions System has managed to successfully facilitate such a high number of applications. We have also noted a significantly low amount of complaints from applicants, which is testament to the system’s constant improvement. Parents are urged to wait for the placement period to begin on October 3 in order to receive placement offers.”