Pretoria - The deadline to apply for space for Grade 1s and Grade 8s next year is looming, but many parents still have not submitted their children's documents as required.
Yesterday, the Gauteng Education Department warned parents not to wait until the last minute to apply.
The application system will shut down today.
The department said there was usually a scramble experienced by the department as some parents waited until the last minute to apply.
Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona described the online system as user-friendly and encouraged parents to take advantage of it.
“We've seen that most parents have applied but have not uploaded documents. We encourage parents to upload documents. If you don't, the process will be difficult. Parents don't need to visit our schools,” Mabona said.
On the first day of registration on June 25, Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said nearly 150 000 had applied.
By yesterday registration centres remained empty as parents feared contracting Covid-19.
Tumisho Molefe described the online process as pathetic.
He wanted his son to start Grade 1 at a school in Lynnwood Ridge, where his sibling was a learner.
However, he was placed at a school in Silverton.
Another parent from Mamelodi said her applications for her son, who is due to start Grade 1 next year, would not go through.
“I can't even log in. I even thought the site no longer has my personal details so I tried to register, but it says I'm already registered. It's very annoying,” she said.
Another parent, Nolutsha Gqibitole, who came from the Eastern Cape to register her children in one of the schools in Soweto, said she didn't know about online registration.
“I wanted to register two children, one in Grade 1.
“But the schools I went to told me to register online,” Gqibitole said, adding that she had been trying to register her children without success.
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Pretoria News