The opening of the e-platform for school applications for Gauteng has been postponed with one week to 20 May to correct issues with the system. The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS) held a productive meeting with the Gauteng Education Department today (10 May 2019) to discuss the problems and solutions.
 
“Applications, which can only be made on this platform, were initially scheduled to open on Monday, 13 May 2019. However, a test run, in which FEDSAS was also involved, brought to light issues with the structure and functioning of the platform,” says Mr Paul Colditz, CEO of FEDSAS. Colditz says currently the functioning of the platform is not in line with the stipulations of, amongst others, Gauteng Admission Regulations, the Constitution and the Norms and Standards for Language Policy. “Especially around feeder zones of schools there are technical issues which prevent all the schools in an applicant’s immediate vicinity from being listed.”
 
Colditz says at this morning’s meeting the Department has indicated that it has already started to address the problems as pointed out by FEDSAS. This will be followed by another test run. “FEDSAS will be monitoring this process in order to ensure that parents are able the exercise their rights in terms of choices as determined by applicable legislation.”
 
Colditz says if the problems are not solved and parents are unable to make choices about applications legal action will be considered. “However, FEDSAS sees this as a last resort. The organisation has a good working relationship with the Gauteng Education Department and we prefer to act as partners.”
 
Colditz made it clear that the best interests of the children remain the primary consideration. For this reason FEDSAS has made available an information piece as well as other documentation to enable parents to lodge a complaint should an application be unsuccessful as a result of technical issues with the e-platform. This is available on the FEDSAS website at www.fedsas.org.za.