The civil rights watchdog AfriForum has been inundated with complaints from parents from early this morning, shortly after Gauteng’s online application process for prospective Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners opened. Parents could not register on the system to apply at the schools of their choice.

This is yet another year that the Gauteng Department of Education’s online system has failed, creating confusion, chaos and uncertainty in parents and for schools.    

Many problems experienced today with the online application process included that: 

·      The webpage was under construction;

·      Users could not proceed to subsequent steps; 

·      Address verification took unnecessarily long; and 

·      Personal information cannot be sufficiently protected as required by legislation (the system’s OTP system had to be turned off after causing system problems). 

“AfriForum still believes that the online application process must be left to schools so that parents can apply directly at the schools of their choice. AfriForum wants to congratulate schools who went the extra mile to support parents with the online application process through online open days, as well as with the application process today,” says Carien Bloem, Manager for Education at AfriForum.

Parents are encouraged to take screen grabs of the application process and to take the following steps if they experience problems with their applications:  

1.    Do not stop trying to register online.

2.    Phone the school of your choice and inform them of your problem. Also send an email with your child’s documentation to the school so that they are aware of your child – if they aren’t already. 

3.    Also send a comprehensive email with screen grabs, your child’s name and the school at which you applied, as well as the problems experienced to gdeinfo@gauteng.gov.za, as well as the Head of the Education Department at edward.mosuwe@gauteng.gov.za.

Parents who need any further information can send an email to onderwys@afriforum.co.za.

Issued by AfriForum