The Gauteng Education Department has issued a warning to parents who have not yet accepted school placements for their children for the 2024 academic year.
The department has given parents a seven-day deadline to accept the placements, or the department will proceed with automatic placements.
Although the department has sent out over 200 000 placement offers, fewer than 100 000 parents have accepted these placements so far. This situation has raised concerns, as challenges related to unplaced learners have been a persistent issue with the online placement system, particularly at the start of each school year.
Gauteng school placement process:
According to the Spokesperson for the department, Steve Mabona, there are over 128 000 parents who have not accepted the offers, and this has raised alarm bells within the education authorities. To address this, the department is urging parents to accept the offers within the next seven days to avoid automatic placement.
Mabona emphasised, “We’re giving them seven days to get into the system and accept their offer. If they fail to do so, we will proceed with autoplacing. However, if parents are dissatisfied with the placement they receive, especially if it’s not the school they applied to, they can raise objections through a formal process.”
The department is working to streamline the placement process and ensure that all pupils are placed in schools for the upcoming academic year. Parents are urged to act promptly to secure their children’s placements in the schools of their choice.
