Gauteng’s MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture, Matome Chiloane, has launched an innovative online school registration system. This initiative is a component of the province’s R3.9 billion education budget.

During a media briefing held on Sunday, following the budget vote, Chiloane emphasised that every learner in Gauteng possesses a fundamental right to quality education, irrespective of their geographical location.

Chiloane clarified that automatic placement for Grade 1 will not be granted to learners currently enrolled in Grade R at schools. These learners are still required to apply, either at their current school or any other institution.

He also stated that foreign nationals seeking school placements for their children must possess legal residency in the country and be able to furnish all necessary compliance documentation.

“This Budget Vote not only signifies our commitment to investment in education but also serves as a validation of our approach in viewing investments in township schools as strategic moves to enhance human capital,” Chiloane stated emphatically.

“By empowering our scholars, we are not merely performing acts of charity; we are facilitating opportunities that yield extraordinary returns for our province and nation.”

“The R3.9 billion budget allocation marks the largest funding commitment to transform how education is delivered across Gauteng fundamentally. We are not maintaining the status quo; we are reimagining what education can be,” the MEC asserted. This philosophy extends to the launch of the Multi-Certification Skills Programme (MCSP), which is set to transcend traditional academic boundaries and cater to the evolving demands of the job market,” he said.

Chilonae also indicated that his department is poised to change the provincial educational landscape through the budget allocation, adding that the allocation validates the province’s approach of investing in township schools not as acts of charity but as strategic investments in human capital that yield extraordinary returns for our province and nation.

“Changing the Educational Landscape — R3.9 billion. The largest allocation represents our commitment to fundamentally transforming education delivery in Gauteng. We are not maintaining the status quo; we are reimagining what education can be.

“Our Multi-Certification Skills Programme (MCSP) transcends traditional academic boundaries, empowering every learner in Gauteng with comprehensive skills for an evolving world. From coding and robotics in Foundation Phase to Microsoft Digital, AI, and firefighting in FET Phase, our learners accumulate practical, accredited skills progressively, ensuring that they graduate not just with a matric certificate, but with multiple certifications that make them immediately employable or entrepreneurially ready,” he said.

However, the  Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has demanded that the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) break the cycle of chaos by opening the learner online application system for the 2026 academic year urgently.

DA MP Sergio D Santo said this will give parents more time to apply and allow the department to review submissions, open the late application period earlier, and prevent a situation where learners are left without school admission and miss days and months of schooling.

“It’s concerning that, with less than a week to go before the online admissions open, the Gauteng Education Department has still not provided basic details like the list of walk-in centres or their operating hours. On top of this, the system still doesn’t allow proper school ranking—parents are forced to apply to five schools just to avoid their child being unplaced, even if some of those schools are not their real choice. There should be a ranking system in place.

We are also seeing Grade R learners not being guaranteed placement at their current schools, which is something MEC Chiloane himself criticised as Chairperson of the portfolio committee before becoming MEC,” he said.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za

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