Cape parents anxious about online system glitches

Not all parents have access to online functions to register their children for the 2024 school year and even if they do, the system crashes or nobody answers their cries for help.

CAPE TOWN -- WITH only two weeks left before the closing date for next year’s school admissions anxious parents have raised concerns about apparent delays and glitches on the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED’s) online system.

The WCED said that they were aware of the glitches on their system.

“We have had a few technical niggles along the way, which is expected with the change to a new system. However, the move away from the notoriously unstable national government State Information and Technology Agency system has proved to be the right one.”

On Friday, WCED said that so far they have received applications for 90 305 learners for the 2024 school year and with parents applying for more than one school for their children, the total number of individual applications to schools received thus far is 298 530.

WCED Minister of Education, David Maynier, said that their admissions system has remained up and running since the application’s window opened and they have done pop-up stalls to assist parents in person across the province at schools and malls.

The WCED further said that they understand that this was a stressful period for parents, and that the application process could seem daunting.

“If parents have any concerns or questions about the online system, they must pop these in the “Query” box on the admissions website to get assisted, added Meynier.

Meanwhile, the founder of Parents for Equal Education SA (Peesa), Vanessa le Roux, lambasted the department and said that the online system should have been flawless by now.

“I don't think the WCED takes into consideration the challenges our community faces, poverty is a big part of it, not all parents have access to the internet,”said Le Roux.

Allegations were levelled at the department that they has experienced similar glitches last year, which forced them to extend the application deadline.

However, Meynier denied that the department was forced to extend the deadline.

ANC spokesperson, Muhammad Khalid Sayed, said the frailties of the system were being exposed as it clearly could not cope with the large volume of applications. “The WCED must urgently address these and it must look at extending the deadline for applications to make up for the lost time,” he said.

Natasha Selbourne Gertse, from Mitchells Plain, told Weekend Argus that she has also been struggling for a long time. The system kept giving her error messages and telling her that the password was incorrect but eventually she succeeded.

“There are more parents who are struggling and I had to avail myself to assist those parents. It's a lot of different issues. Even when you email for assistance as it says on the system, they don't even reply,” she said.

She also said that the time frame was too short and she was worried some parents would not be able to register for their children for school on time.

National spokesperson of Al Jama-ah Shameemah Salie who also spoke as a parent, said that she preferred the old system.

“By March 14, the system was probably overloaded, people could not go to the next step to upload documents and some parents don't have the knowledge to use online and money to go to these pop ups,” said Salie.

The WCED said from May 29, schools would upload the outcome of school applications and parents would be required to accept or decline places where their admission had been successful.