The Gauteng Education Department is mandated to make sure all learners in the province have access to learning opportunities of good quality. If you are a parent, it is necessary to understand how to make this happen for your child.
It all starts with online registration on the website of the Gauteng Education Department (GDE). You will need to have some documents on hand when you register, and you should familiarize yourself with what they are as soon as possible.
You will also have to choose a school for your child. Give that some thought beforehand. Also, have a Plan B in place if your child is denied admission to the school of your choice.
The first step is to click on the button that says Register, accept the terms and conditions and click on continue.
Log in with a user name and password.
The password has to be unique and consist of eight characters, including a capital letter, special character, lower case letters, and numbers.
This step will take you to the parent/guardian form, where you will have to provide your information. Fill in the fields marked with an asterisk. The information required will be about the municipality where you live, street name and number, phone number, etc. You will also have to fill in your South African ID number. If you do not have a landline phone number or email address, you can skip these fields. You can reset the password later if you forget it.
The next page is all about the learner. You have to fill in whether the child is South African or not and provide an ID number if he or she has one. You also have to tell the GDE the province and the current grade of the learner.
Fill in all the fields required and then click on Submit Learner Details.
You need to select one of the options:
- The first one is Home. That is to determine the school within the feeder zone closest to the learner’s residence.
- A sibling or previous school: A sibling of the applicant learner is attending this school.
- The place where at least one of the parents of the applicant learner works.
- The learner’s residence is between four and 30 kilometres from the school.
- The learner’s residence is further than 30 kilometres from the school.
You can select the Home-option to familiarise yourself with a list of schools within the feeder zone of your home address.
You can then choose a school closest to where you live.
Of course, placement depends on the number of available spaces at the school.
- You are allowed to apply for all learners that will attend grades one and eight.
- You may apply even if you are not a South African citizen.
Applicants who apply to a school with a feeder zone covering their address will get priority.
If you apply for a neighbor or family member’s child, you must not use your profile. Instead, register the details of the parents.
You may apply to five different schools for one child.
Parents may apply for three of their children to attend grade one and three to attend grade eight. You cannot apply online if a child has to repeat the grade.
You may not apply to schools in provinces other than your own.
No application will be accepted for a child younger than five. The child must be five turning six by the end of June. For grade one, there is no maximum age limit.
If you apply for twins, you must make two applications.
Parents have 30 days to apply. At walk-in centres, they must avoid forming crowds.
Supporting documentation
Parents of applicants should upload certified copies of relevant documents online rather than submit them directly to a school.
Scan and upload each document separately.
All documents must be certified. When you have uploaded an attachment, make sure that it shows on the system. You will also receive a confirmation by SMS.
You will be able to see the application fee on the application form.
Certified copies of necessary documents must be uploaded or submitted to the school no later than seven days after applying.
GDE Requirements
For South Africans citizens, these documents include:
- The birth certificate of the child
- The ID or passport of the parents or Guardian
- Proof of the Home or work or address of the parents
- A clinic card for grade one learners and
- A recent grade seven report card for grade eight applicants.
For non-South African citizens, the following documents will be required:
- Study permit and passport of parent.
- Work permit and passport of parent
- Refugee permit of parent
- Asylum seeker permit of parent
- Proof of Home and work or address
- A Clinic card for grade one application
- And the most recent grade seven report cart for Grade 8 eight applications.
Parents awaiting a birth certificate must have obtained a temporary certificate from the Department of Home affairs.