'Askies!’: Education MEC apologises for website crash
Gauteng's online applications system aimed at getting rid of long queues at schools collapsed on its first day, leaving parents frustrated.
|||Johannesburg - Gauteng’s online applications system aimed at getting rid of long queues at schools collapsed on its first day on Monday, leaving parents frustrated.
The website, created by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to allow parents to register their children for 2017, was suspended until on Wednesday because of capacity overload. The system crashed after receiving more than 600 applicants a second, the department said.
“The department is attending to these technical challenges to ensure that the website is up and running by (tomorrow),” the department said in a statement.
Parents of children due to start Grade 1 or high school in the province next year will have to register their children online to secure a place. The department said it had switched to online applications “to enable planning and fair distribution of pupils”, which it hoped would put an end to the days of parents filling in forms and waiting in long queues to register.
It's coming back tomorrow morning https://t.co/DwSCFxef1p
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) April 12, 2016
Introducing the system earlier this year, Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi waxed lyrical about how it would assist parents and reduce the pressure of standing in long queues.
On Sunday, Lesufi said the department had opted for an online application process because it was “convenient, easy to access, and enables planning and fair distribution of learners across the Gauteng education system”.
The process appeared to have been running smoothly from about 8.30am for about two hours on Monday before it crashed, leaving parents who could not log in and apply anxious and frustrated.
Schools were inundated with calls from parents who were angry and wanted to find out if there was any way they could submit hard-copy application forms instead.
It's starts on the 19th April https://t.co/kke9D0Xvr8
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) April 12, 2016
Kathy Callaghan from the Governors Alliance, a school governing body association, said: “The system didn’t work last year; why would the department think it will work this year? The system has still not fulfilled its expectations. Parents need to be given an explanation on what went wrong and what will happen from now on.”
Callaghan said it was unfair on parents that the department didn’t have a back-up plan in case the system crashed.
“The department instructed all schools not to give out application forms. Parents didn’t mind lining up outside schools to apply because that worked,” she said.
The new admission website, www.gdeadmissions.gov.za, allows parents to submit applications for the early-bird registration window for 2017 admissions, which is open until September 7. Once you are on the GDE admissions website, you first have to register your details to get a username and password.
After submitting all the necessary details and registering, an SMS or email with an automated waiting list number will be sent on the child’s application status. Waiting list numbers can be used to view application statuses online. Pupils will then be placed in schools from June 24 to September 7.
Parents who don’t have internet connections can go to district offices for assistance. Pupils in Grade R and those needing to be placed in special-needs schools won’t be able to apply online.
Lesufi tweeted: “Ooops! 600 applicants per second, it was beyond our capacity, my sincere apologies! Our technicians are not going home tonight. Askies!”
The Star