​Kwanele Ximba
Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi has announced that placement of learners for the 2021 academic year for Grade 1 and 8 will commence on 1 October and end on 30 of November 2020.
 The application process started on 25 June 2020 and is scheduled to end on 30 November 2020
When applying, parents were advised to upload and submit documents to schools within 7 days of making the application of which it was between 25 June and -25 July 2020. From the 25 of June to the 30 of September school were verifying the applications and documents submitted the verified applications were electronically submitted to districts for quality assurance based on Admissions Regulations. 
In addition, head office randomly selects 10% of schools to verify the accuracy of placement lists.
Offers of placement will be issued from 1 October 2020. Parents have 7 days to accept the offers. Offers that are not accepted will be forfeited after 7 days of receipt.
The department has noted that offers of placement would not be sent to all parents on the same day, as the department was processing offers systematically in line with the order of application options outlined in the Admissions Regulations.
About 157 770 applications were made for 70 073 (Grade 1: 34 121 and Grade 8: 35 952) individual learners since the Online Admissions Applications System opened.
Schools that reach their full capacity will be identified and locked for further placement.  Applicants who could not be accommodated at the schools that they applied to, will receive offers of placement at schools with available space from 1 – 30 November 2020. This process is referred to as transfer placements.
"We urge parents to remain calm if offers of placement are not received immediately after the commencement of the Placement Period, as all learners will be placed. In order to continue, to adhere to necessary COVID-19 Regulations, parents are advised not to visit schools without prior appointments," said MEC Lesufi.
In addition, Lesufi said the November 2020 concurrent National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Senior Certificate (SC) Examinations would commence on 19 October 2020 with Life Orientation Common Assessment Task, Computer Application Technology (CAT) and Information Technology (IT) practical.
The main examination for all candidates will commence on 5 November 2020 and will conclude on 15 December 2020.