Parents in Gauteng have until Wednesday to make use of the online system to apply for registration of their children for the 2017 academic year in any public school in the province.

At least 673 911 applications for Grade 1 and Grade 8 were received and processed since the online registration was launched in March, the provincial education department said on Tuesday.

“At least 109 121 applications were and for Grade 1 learners and 83 113 for Grade 8. The department has also recorded around 17 167 applications for learners in between the grades (Grade 2-7), despite the online system mainly targeting Grade 1 and Grade 8 applicants,” said spokesperson Oupa Bodibe.

Parents who do not have access to the internet were advised to visit their nearest school or district office for assistance with registration.

Online registration, for which MEC Panyaza Lesufi has been lauded, got off to a shaky start when the system crashed under the weight of thousands of applications by parents vying for school places, causing a lot of frustration and anxiety among parents.

Sedibe urged those who experienced problems with the system to contact their call centre via the telephone numbers listed on the registration website.