The Gauteng Department of Education has apologised after technical problems prevented schools from issuing report cards to thousands of learners across the province.
The delays, affecting public ordinary schools, stem from a breakdown in the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS), which schools use to capture and process learner academic records.
The department said on Wednesday that the Citrix environment supporting SA-SAMS had become temporarily unavailable, leaving schools unable to access the system to finalise learner data needed for printing report cards.
Gauteng MEC for Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Lebogang Maile acknowledged the disruption caused to learners, parents and school staff.
“On behalf of the Gauteng Department of Education, I extend my sincere apology to learners, parents and school staff affected by this delay. We understand the importance of report cards in tracking learner progress and planning for the academic term ahead,” Maile said.
The MEC clarified that SA-SAMS is a national system administered by the Department of Basic Education, meaning provincial education departments rely on its stability for all learner administration and academic record processing.
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System administrators and technicians are working to restore full functionality, though the department has not provided a timeline for when the system will be operational again.
Maile urged affected schools and parents to allow the technical process to be completed to ensure report cards are issued with accurate learner records.
“We are confident that the technical teams handling the matter will restore the system soon. We appreciate the patience shown by schools, learners and parents as this process is being resolved,” he said.
The department said it would continue updating schools as progress is made on resolving the technical failure.
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