Enrol your Grade 1 or Grade 8 child as soon as possible – AfriForum

Parents or guardians of future Grade 1 or 8 learners only have a month to register their children for the 2024 school year.

AfriForum has advised parents to register their children as soon as possible from June 15 for placement in Gauteng schools.

The online registration process is open from 08:00 on June 15 until July 14, which means that parents only have one month to register their children.

AfriForum encouraged parents to finish the registration process as soon as possible to ensure their children are placed in the school of their choice.

Applications for placement in Gauteng schools will this year only take place online on the Gauteng department of education website: www.gdeadmisions.gov.za

At a media conference regarding the process, MEC of education Matome Chiloane gave assurance that the system has been improved with more capacity to handle an enormous amount of applications at the same time.

Chiloane said it was important that parents submit their correct contact details and that the cellphone number remains active until they receive confirmation that their child has been placed.

He warned that parents not assume that their child currently in Grade R will automatically be placed in the same school again. They must still apply like all the other parents.

The required documents must be handed in within seven days of application either online in compact format or at the school of choice.

If the documents are not handed in within a week, the application will expire.

Parents should expect the department to make offers of placement from September 4 to which Chiloane encouraged parents to respond immediately.

According to AfriForum head of cultural affairs Alana Bailey, it is gratifying that both Grade 1s and 8s have a choice of language of instruction while Grade 8s can also choose an additional language.

Bailey said Chiloane’s answer to whether the department wanted to change Afrikaans medium schools to dual medium was however extremely troubling.

“Any steps to force schools in that direction will be opposed by AfriForum,” said Bailey.

Bailey welcomed that the department will this year allow parents to submit the address of the school siblings are already in as well as the parents’ work address instead of just the home address.

She said parents will also be allowed a choice of up to five schools with preference given to the first three closest to home.

She said the requirement that schools apply to the department for permission to classify space for special services such as laboratory and library was distressing.

She said in the past the department had forced schools that were full to take more learners because it had mistaken these special use spaces for classrooms.

She said AfriForum will also ensure the department will act in the schools’ and learners’ best interest.

The Gauteng education department will publish the complete list of instructions for the application process on its media channels.

“It is widely known that there is a shortage of schools in Gauteng and that the blame should be laid at the door of Gauteng education,” said Bailey.

“Chiloane announced that more schools will be built to address this shortage, but didn’t explain how many supplementary schools will be ready in 2024.

“For this reason it is imperative that children are registered as soon as possible.”

AfriForum reminded parents and guardians about the benefit of Mother tongue instruction in school.

“They should keep this in mind when they make a decision about which school to enrol their child,” Bailey emphasised.

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