What is GDE?
The GDE is an abbreviation of the Gauteng Department of Education that seeks to ensure that learners perpetually have a compulsory basic education in the Gauteng province in South Africa.
The GDE also sees to it that children have access to quality education, learning, and evaluation. The GDE is for schools with a high number of applications. The Gauteng Department of Education makes sure that preference is not dished out to learners who have special needs or otherwise.
The GDE Guide
The GDE guide comes in three stages. Parents and guardians are supposed to familiarize themselves with these stages before they go-ahead to apply on behalf of their children.
Here are the three stages;
- Parents or Legal Guardian- their details
- Details of the Learner
- The school of application
GDE Application Necessary Documents
The Grade a child is entering, that is whether Grade 1 or Grade, applicants must make sure to have the following documents;
- A valid identification document of the parent or legal guardian
- Birth certificate of the learner
- A proof of your home or work address
- An immunization document that proves that the child is devoid of tuberculosis, tetanus, Hepatitis B, Polio, Measles
- If the learner is not a South African national, their application must come with a Refugee Permit, the passport of the parent or legal guardian, proof of home or work address, a recent academic report card of the school where the child is currently enrolled if they are applying for Grade 8
GDE Online Application – Step by Step Guide
Listed below are the various things an applicant has to go through to have a successful application. Below are the explained stages;
Step 1- Parents or Legal Guardians- Details
- Parents or legal guardians who are applying for the first time have to click on the ‘apply for 2022’ button when they are on the GDE’s official website.
- When you see ‘Enter Parent Information’ appears, applicants must fill out that form with the required information in all the spaces marked with an asterisk. Applicants will be asked to give information on municipality, street name, phone number, street number, among others. Information on municipality, street name, phone number, the street number must be filled in the ‘Enter Parent’s Information’ section.
- A valid South African identification number must be provided by the applicant. This will be systematically set up and linked with each ID number. This means that the applicant should have both their ID number and that of their ward available when applying.
- A unique username and password must be created by the applicant. This will enable them to access the main application. Following the creation of the account, an SMS that contains the username and password will be sent.
- After completing this stage, you will be redirected to the next stage.
Step 2- Learner’s Information
- This is the stage where the applicant enters the student’s information. This information may include the nationality of the applicant, their province, grade, identity number. This is essential to the application as without it the whole application is null and void.
- Click on submit after filling the form with the learner’s information.
- The applicant will be directed to the next stage if and only if they completed the form.
Step 3- Applying To The School
- Here, the applicant has to choose an application choice. This is the stage where the applicant chooses from home, job, sibling, or whether the learner was in a school before the application.
Applicants must take note of these when applying;
- The system filters and finds a school in an area within their home or work address should they choose between those areas.
- The system will filter through schools where the applicant has other children from Grades 1-6 or Grades 8-11 if an applicant chooses siblings. Grades 1-6 or Grades 8-11. The applicant has to make available this information to enable the system to filter through.
- In a case where the applicant chooses a previous school, the applicant should equally mention the name of the previous school the learner attended.
After submitting the first application, here are the options you have next;
- An applicant has the freedom to choose a school of choice. The disadvantage here however is that should the application not meet the admission requirement, that applicant will be submitted to a waiting list B.
- Applicants also have the rights to apply to a specific school where they have to emphasize what they are looking for
- Again, applicants can choose a school that has boarding facilities available
- The moment all of these are done, you may continue to apply.
- Applicants will be given a waiting list reference number which ascertains that their application has been received. In a case where they do not, they must go over the application process to see where they may have faulted.
Types of Waiting List
There are three types of waiting list. Here is that list and what each one of them means;
- WA- If an applicant is placed on this waiting list, it means that their qualification is based on the requirements of the school they applied to.
- WB- This means that an applicant is not qualified concerning the requirements of the school they applied to
- WAB- This means the system is finding it difficult to identify the address stated in the application.
How To Check GDE Application Status
To know whether your kid has been accepted into a GDE school here is how to go about it;
- Visit this link: https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/
- Hit on the school enrollment FAQs
- Move to How Can I Check The Status of My Child’s Admission Application
- Enter the ID number and password
- Click submit to view if your ward has been accepted
GDE Application Fee
The application fee for GDE is mostly on the application form.
2022/2023 GDE Application Dates
Applications are expected to be open from September 13th, 2022, and end on October 8th, 2022.