The Gauteng MEC for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Matome Chiloane, announced on Sunday that Grade 1 and 8 online admissions deadline for the 2025 academic year have been extended to August 14 due to technical glitches that occurred two days ago.
The initial closing date was Monday, August 12.
Chiloane also reminded parents and guardians who applied to schools, to upload certified documents by August 21.
He stressed the most significant document was the proof of address, which determined the school that a child would be placed in, either within a 30km close range, or further.
Additionally, parents must submit the most recent Grade 7 report for Grade 8 applicants, and a clinic card/immunisation report for Grade 1 applicants.
As of Friday, 768 666 applications were submitted for next year’s academic year. More than 325 712 were Grade 1 applications, while 442 925 applications were for Grade 8s.
There were 11 000 more applications for the 2025 academic year than the 757 075 applications submitted in 2023, for the 2024 academic year, Chiloane said.
He added that 96 411 incomplete applications were recorded, which would ultimately hinder a child’s placement in a school. Thus, he urged guardians and parents to complete their applications on time.
Parents will be notified via SMS of the first batch of placement offers from September 16. Chiloane alerted parents that placement offers will be issued throughout the rest of the year until all learners have been placed.
The MEC highlighted a large number of schools that received more applications than their available capacity, such as Parktown Boys’ High School, Jeppe High School for Boys, Laerskool Akasia Primary School, and Alston Primary School, among others.
Out of 1403 primary schools, an estimated 840 received overwhelming applications. In addition, out of 660 secondary schools, 310 also received applications more than their capacity.
“Applications who cannot be accommodated in schools that have reached capacity will be transferred to the next closest school with available space,” said Chiloane.
The Star