The countdown to the closure of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) online admissions for grade one and grade eight is now at just 14 days.

The admissions – which are open between 22nd July and 19th August – are how parents and other caregivers secure spots for their children in 2023.

This process is an event every year given the importance of placing children in schools, how fast the spots are taken up and the fact that it’s an online process that sees heavy traffic in a South African context.

We saw how heavy this traffic was as the first day brought in more than 165 000 applicants, according to the GDE. Despite the department making continual upgrades to anticipate this traffic every year, there was an error causing downtime on the first day that has since been fixed.

Several other steps have been taken to make this process as smooth as possible, such as an online video guide released to YouTube. These kinds of modern approaches to administration and customer service are rare in the country so they are always appreciated when popping up in the wild.

For parents and caregivers, while two weeks is a decent amount of time it’s recommended to complete the applications process as soon as possible especially as some steps, such as the certification of paper documents, can take much longer than expected. These kinds of delays, which are mostly out of applicants’ hands, can cause problems so the sooner the process is started the better.

More stories from Hypertext on the 2023 Gauteng grade one and grade eight online admissions: 

• Firs open day brings in 165K applicants
• Grade R, Grade 2-7 and Grade 9-12 applications must be done in person
• Working cell number crucial for grade 1 & 8 online applications.
• Gauteng parents urged to get documents.
• GDE lays out 5 steps for Grade 1 & 8 online admissions.
• Online portal has apparently been upgraded.