As South African schools prepare to reopen on 14 January 2026, nearly 5,000 Grade 1 and 8 pupils in Gauteng remain unplaced due to glitches in the online admissions system and district overloads. Frustrated parents are queuing at offices and calling for the system's scrapping, while the department promises ongoing placements. The issue echoes national challenges in school admissions.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) faces mounting pressure as 4,858 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners—1,381 in Grade 1 and 3,477 in Grade 8—remain without school placements ahead of the 2026 academic year's start on 14 January. The department attributes the strain to rapid population growth and limited infrastructure in urban districts, particularly Ekurhuleni with 3,169 unplaced learners, followed by Johannesburg areas.
The late application window from 17 December 2025 to 30 January 2026 has seen 11,183 submissions, but technical issues plague the online system, including crashes, login timeouts, and failed uploads. Parents report constant anxiety; one anonymous father from Pretoria North, who applied in July 2025 for three nearby schools, received an unsuitable placement in late November and has been stuck in appeal limbo. "It’s all we think about every day. I log into this system almost three to five times a day," he said.
On 13 January, hundreds queued at district offices under the scorching sun, voicing frustration. "The department should just go back to the old way where parents were applying at schools because that worked so much better than this online thing," one parent remarked. AfriForum's Carien Bloem criticised the centralised system: "This situation shows exactly why a centralised system cannot work... The Department of Education has taken control but has not accepted responsibility."
The DA's Sergio Isa Dos Santos highlighted placements up to 95km away, calling it unacceptable. GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona stated, "We are finalising that process. We have just 3,000 of those whom we are finalising... in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg." A teachers' union warned schools are unprepared.
Nationally, around 23,000 pupils await placements in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and the Western Cape, with late applications complicating efforts.