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Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi would prefer to forget the past two weeks.
Everything is going digital – be it newspapers gradually switching to mobile, Uber disrupting the metered taxi industry and even grocery or clothes shopping being done online.
Not to be left behind, an enthusiastic and ambitious Lesufi launched the Gauteng online registration applications for grade 1 and 8 pupils for 2017.
It was only up for a few minutes on April 11 when the system crashed because it could not handle the volume of applications, causing parents to go into a frenzy about what to do next.
A second attempt at running the system a few days later also failed, forcing the department to postpone the launch to Tuesday at 8am.
While waiting for the system to go live, we anxious parents were confronted with a message that it had been delayed and that the new live time would be 10am.
When that time came, another alert was loaded, stating that Lesufi was to make an important announcement at 2pm. At this point, I had given up and began dreading the chaos of long queues at the different high schools that I had planned to apply to for my son’s enrolment.
Then it went live. For the first few hours, the system was slow – how we parents complained – but by Wednesday, it was up and running. All applications to the preferred and zoned schools were made, and all the documents required were prepared and loaded.
Colleagues offered the sage advice that every new system being introduced has teething problems and we should accept this. “We have experienced this with the home affairs system,” said one co-worker. “Even the Americans had problems when they launched the health online system,” proffered another.
I am not in America and I do not care about its problems, was my response. When I am promised something, I need it delivered with no complications and for it to be user-friendly.
As I look back over these two weeks, now that things have settled, I can safely say Lesufi has learnt this lesson: the next time he plans to launch something innovative in education, he had better put it through rigorous testing first.
Do we demand this because our standards are high and we do not trust anything politicians tell us? I believe it is because of the many promises being made yet never kept. And it is because finding a good government school for our children to obtain a good education is paramount.
We want the best for our children, hence us demanding answers for the system failure. It is part of our efforts to steer our children’s education on the right course. And it is laudable that parents got so involved in their children’s education.
Follow me on Twitter @DumisaneLubisi
