GDE, another useless leg of the government.

I have a daughter who's going to be doing Grade 1 this year. I app**** on te GDE website in July and by 15 July 2020 I had submitted all required paperwork to all the schools to which I had app****. By October I send an email enquiring when I'd get my placement offer or rejection letter so I could make another plan in order to get my child into a school and was told to wait until the entire process was complete.

By the end of the school year I was still not placed, I went to the Gauteng West Krugersdorp District Office as the schools I want are in that district. I was told I wasn't even showing on the database. The person assisting me from the office used my credentials to log into the system and saw that I did have a profile, I had app**** to several schools and had waiting list numbers and all my application statuses said "Application still in Progress" and gave me the circuit manager's number. I tried for an entire month to call the number and send text messages and there has been no reply and the number doesn't work.

Since the start of the year I've been calling the offices and the numbers weren't being answered. On Monday 25th Jan 2021, I went to the offices again and was given a new set of numbers to call, on account of the switchboard not working and therefore office numbers not being able to go through. I called the numbers I was given and was told that, as at that date, 71 learners were still unplaced, mine included. I was told to wait until latestes 28th January for a response.

On Tuesday 26th January, I received a sms telling me I've been placed in a school I've never heard of in Kagiso, far from me. A lot further than the schools to which I had app****. When I queried this, I was told about space, despite when I app****. I was told availability was in that school. I was told I could always dispute it on the GDE website. When I logged back onto the website, I didn't find any such option to dispute so I was told to write a letter of appeal and hand deliver it. At the gate, the guards had no clue what I was talking about and was directed to one of the assistants of the Circuit 4 manager of that office.

The assistant said I should email the circuit manager, the same manager that I haven't been able to reach and hasn't been in the office for over a month.

I am beyond frustrated. The schools simply redirect me to the education department to air out my grievances and yet the very same schools which claim to be full, keep giving out application forms for the same grade. The department is useless and I'm losing sleep over this because it's messing with my child's future. I refuse to enroll my child in a school in Soweto where the very same government doesn't deliver text books in time, there isn't enough teaching staff and the resources leave a lot to be desired. The building are delapidated and burning schools is the only wayessages can get across to our dear government. I won't endanger my child that way and, most importantly, she needs to be in a school with extracurricular activities that aren't just extra math.

The GDE system is a mess, it's frustrating and the people at the helm probably have children that left the education system before all this nonsense was introduced so they don't give a flying **** what happens to people.