Western Cape struggling to place over 7,500 learners in schools

As public schools prepare to open next week on January 14, the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) said that 7,540 learners in Grade R, Grade 1 and Grade 8 have still not been placed in schools.

This is an increase from the department’s reported figures from December 15, when WCED Spokesperson Bronagh Hammond told the SABC that about 7,200 learners had not been placed.

According to the spokesperson, this is due to a large number of late applications. Since November 2025, the Department has recorded 10,666 late applications.

“Our biggest problem now is actually late applications. It’s parents coming and asking for placement, so as we place one learner, another two come in for placement,” she said. 

Hammond added that the department has already placed 96% of all learners whose applications they have received. 

In December 2025 and the first few days of January 2026 alone, the department recorded almost 5,000 late applications.

“Despite extensive public communication and advocacy encouraging parents to apply on time, thousands of applications are still being submitted well after the official deadlines,” the department said.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) told IOL that it is already hearing from parents whose children have not been placed. 

Provincial Secretary of Cosatu, Malvern du Bruyn, said that this is a recurring problem. “Year after year, we don’t see any plans from the department that work to address the issues faced by learners and parents,” he said. 

“Kids are not placed in schools and end up staying at home for a full year, and then the department shifts the blame to parents.”

COSATU believes that the recurring placement problem is a failure in long-term planning on the part of the Western Cape Government. 

“We have seen this problem affecting families for more than five years now. If there was really a plan in place, then we wouldn’t still have this problem,” said du Bruyn. 

COSATU said that this mainly affects black and coloured working-class communities, pointing to inequality in the system. 

Hammond said the worst-affected areas are Kuils River, Eerste River, and Kraaifontein. Additionally, there are “some issues with Grade R” in Mfuleni, as well as issues with transfer grades in Khayelitsha.

The spokesperson said that the Department has built 175 new schools in Khayelitsha and other high-pressure areas and anticipates that all remaining students will be placed in a school by the start of the school year. 

This will become easier, the department said, when staff return to schools on Monday, 12 January. However, she added, “We don’t know how many more late applications will come in.”

DA criticises ANC-led Gauteng while the Western Cape faces the same problem

The Department opened learner applications for Grade R, 1 and 8 in March 2025 for the 2026 academic year, with transfer requests and admission appeals opening in August 2025. 

However, the Department continues to accept late applications through an offline, in-person system at the province’s district education offices. 

The Western Cape figures trump Gauteng’s numbers for unplaced learners, with about 5,000 Grade 1 and 8 students awaiting placement. 

The Democratic Alliance, which governs the Western Cape, criticised the ANC-led Gauteng government for starting applications in July, saying this was the reason for the placement issue. 

Yet, Gauteng says that they are also being inundated with late applications.

Despite opening applications in March and closing them in May, the Western Cape continues to suffer from the same placement problem.

Last year, the WCED was taken to court by the lobby group Equal Education, after some learners were left unplaced for two school terms. 

The court ordered the department to develop a proper management plan within 6 months to deal with late school admissions. 

Hammond said the department is still “considering the judgment and deciding on further steps in that regard.”

However, an influx of housing developments and population increases is overwhelming the system.