Today marked the official start of the Online School Admissions period for Grades 1 and Grade 8 in Gauteng. The department’s Education MEC Matome Chiloane confirmed that over 160,000 applications were processed by the end of the day.
As of Thursday noon 161, 407 Grade 1 and 8 applications were successfully processed by the Online Admissions System, reflecting a slight decrease compared to 2023 where we recorded over 165 000 applications made in the same period
Chiloane has attributed the decrease to the application period coming into effect during the start of a long weekend. He also acknowledged that some applicants encountered issues when entering their I.D numbers into the system.
This was due to the Department of Home Affairs’ inability to process some I.Ds. However, this issue has been resolved. The application period will remain open until 14 July 2023, leaving applicants with about a month to submit their online applications using the steps listed below
How To Submit Your Online School Application
Step One: Parent/ Guardian Registration
- First, you need to complete the personal details form and create a username and password.
- Enter your ID number, once this is completed, a DHA validation box will appear where you need to type in all the consonants in your name and surname as it appears in your ID document.
- Complete all the compulsory fields that have a red asterisk.
- Accept the terms and conditions box and click 'ok' to proceed.
Step Two: Address Details
Fill in your current home address and then select the correct address from a drop-down list. (If the correct address is not found, click on the option for a more advanced search. This will allow you to select your address by placing a pin on a map of the area where your home is).
- Once the correct address appears click on it and a confirmation message will appear with the selected address.
- Click continue and then submit
Fill parents work address (You only need to complete the section if you want to apply to a school close to your work address)
- Once done, click 'submit'
Step Three: Learner Registration
- Complete all compulsory fields marked with a red asterisk on the form.
- When selecting a language of learning and teaching to apply to grade 1 select one of the 11 official languages.
- If your child is going to grade 8 you need to specify whether the learner's current school is in Gauteng and provide the name of the learner's current school.
- Select home language as on grade 7 report first additional language as a learner's grade 7 report and language of learning and teaching.
- Once completed, click on the 'apply to schools' button.
Step Four: Apply to Schools
- Complete the school application form online. When applying to a school it is important to remember that the following criteria are considered and are shown here in order of priority:
- Home address within school feeder Zone: You may select a maximum of three schools at the same time.
- Sibling or previous school: You may select a maximum of two schools.
- Work address within the school feeder Zone You select one school at a time for this option.
- Home address within a 30-kilometre radius: You can only select one school at a time for this option.
- Home address beyond a 30-kilometre radius: You can only select one school at a time for this option.
- Schools of specialization: You can only select one school at a time for this option.
- Once you have completed this section, you can submit and a confirmation page will pop up with your application reference number.
After submitting the application, you have the option to:
- Apply to more schools (You can apply to a maximum of five schools for each learner)
- Register another learner
- Upload documents
Step Five: Upload Documents
- Upload all documents by using the upload function on the system.
- Parents who are unable to upload documents should hand deliver certified copies of their documents to all the schools applied to.
- Certified copies of documents must be uploaded or submitted within seven days after making the application.
- The document status will only reflect after you have uploaded or submitted documents and it has been verified by the school.
- The application process is complete.
Once parents start their online application process, they will have to finish their application and go through every step in one sitting.
Every step of the application process will be confirmed through SMS for security and verification processes, and it is therefore important that parents provide a reliable cell phone number.
