​Thabo Bodibe
The Gauteng Department of Education has extended the closing dates for the 2025 online admissions for Grades 1 and 8 to Wednesday, 14 August 2024 at 00:00 am.
The Department of Education took a decision to extend applications that were initially meant close on Monday, 12 August 2024, at 00:00 am. This was due to the State Information Technology Agency's (SITA) upgrade of the department's Data Centre electrical infrastructure.
The extension will accommodate parents affected by the downtime, ensuring that all parents and guardians have sufficient time to complete the application process.
The Online Admissions system (www.gdeadmissions.gov.za) is currently accessible as SITA has restored all equipment and services.
Education MEC Matome Chiloane made the announcement on Friday, 9 August 2024. A total of 768 666 Grade 1 and Grade 8 applications have been submitted for the 2025 academic year.
He said this was 11 991 more applications than the 757 075 applications received for the 2024 academic year.
"The Placement Period is scheduled to commence on Tuesday, 16 September 2024, parents and guardians who completed applications will receive placement offers via SMS.
"Parents will have 7 days to accept or decline a transfer placement offer.  Should the transfer placement offer be declined, the parent may submit an objection within 7 days. We appreciate the confidence that parents continue to show in public education," said MEC Chiloane.
The Department emphasized that, with all interventions in place, it will not be possible to accommodate all applicants to preferred schools, however all applicants will be placed at schools with available space.
For more information and queries, contact the Gauteng Department of Education Contact Centre on 0800 000 789, WhatsApp on 060 891 0361, or email gdeinfo@gauteng.gov.za.