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The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) must prioritise fixing its online registration system, which has been causing problems for parents trying to register their children every year, resulting in learners remaining unplaced and missing days of schooling.

This comes after the GDE announcement on Sunday, 11 August 2024, that the deadline for the online application for the 2025 academic year has been extended by two days due to unexpected technical glitches on its website caused by data centre glitches and the overwhelming number of applications in high-pressure zones.

This continued failure of this system is unacceptable. For many years, the GDE has failed to get this system functioning at its utmost best while falsely claiming that it is making registration swift and pain-free.

For far too long the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been demanding that the department open the online application system as early as April and be completed by June. This would allow more time to apply, provide the department ample time to deal with all submissions, and prevent a situation where learners are not placed before the start of the new academic year.

The defective online system is also affecting parents who want to enrol their children in our schools. We cannot afford to have children miss days of school due to a system that is budgeted for by taxpayers’ money but is unable to serve them.

Furthermore, there is a need for the department to build more schools in the province so that learners have access to schools closer to where they live .Equally, there is an urgent necessity to refurbish existing schools and fast-track the building of new ones to deal with the growing demand for placement and overcrowding in schools.

We urge the department to get its act together and make sure it corrects this system once and for all. We also call on parents to take advantage of the extended period and urgently register learners for the 2025 academic year.

A DA government would open the system as early as April each year to give the department adequate time to process and manage applications. We would also introduce pop-up admission sites at shopping malls, schools, and other facilities in all 15 districts in Gauteng. Furthermore, we would ensure that there is additional capacity to address complaints that the application process is lagging, especially in geolocation.

The DA will continue to put pressure on the GDE to fix its registration system to ensure that every learner is allowed to access quality education in our province.

Issued by Sergio Isa dos Santos MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education