Staff Reporter
Gauteng has issued about 300,000 placement offers for Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners for the 2027 academic year, but rising enrolment and overcrowded schools mean thousands of children may not secure places at their preferred schools.
Education MEC Lebogang Maile said on Friday that 130,233 applicants had accepted offers since the provincial education department began releasing placements at 4pm on Thursday.
Parents have seven days to accept their offers, while the department continues processing outstanding applications.
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The province received 781,476 school applications before admissions closed on 4 September. These represented 346,556 individual learners, including 169,221 seeking Grade 1 places and 177,335 applying for Grade 8.
The department acknowledged that growing demand for public education was putting considerable pressure on existing school infrastructure, particularly in communities experiencing rapid population growth and urbanisation.
Shortage of classroom space has contributed to overcrowding and a mismatch between the number of applicants and available places in certain communities.
The pressure is particularly severe at some secondary schools, with more than 20 institutions receiving over 1,800 applications each for Grade 8.
“Certain schools have received substantially more applications than their available capacity can accommodate. More than 20 secondary schools received in excess of 1 800 applications for Grade 8, illustrating the extraordinary demand experienced by particular institutions,” the department said.
“While the department appreciates that parents have legitimate preferences regarding where their children should receive an education, these preferences must be balanced against the physical capacity of schools and the obligation to accommodate all learners.”
Where schools are full, learners may be offered places at alternative institutions with available capacity.
Placement decisions are based on several criteria, including proximity to home, whether siblings attend a particular school, the location of a parent’s workplace and available classroom space.
The department said it was working to reduce its infrastructure backlog through new schools, expansions of existing facilities and public-private partnerships aimed at accelerating school construction.
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The department also said that incomplete applications could delay placements.
Some parents had failed to submit supporting documents, including proof of residential or work addresses and identity documents, preventing officials from finalising their children’s applications.
“This failure to complete the application process will unfortunately result in delays in the placement of the affected learners,” the department said.
“Applications that remain incomplete cannot be processed for placement offers in the same manner as applications that have satisfied all the requirements.”
Affected parents were advised to contact their district education offices for assistance.
Placement offers are being released progressively, meaning parents who have not received notifications should not assume their applications have been rejected.
“Parents must understand that the commencement of placement does not mean that all applicants will receive placement offers simultaneously,” the department said.
Offers will be communicated by SMS, while parents can also check their application status through the provincial admissions website.
Parents can accept an offer as final, securing a place at the allocated school, or accept it provisionally while awaiting another offer.
The department said that a final acceptance cannot be reversed through the ordinary acceptance process.
Parents dissatisfied with placements have access to an objections and appeals process.
The department said appeals would not automatically secure admission to oversubscribed schools and urged parents not to disrupt schools or district offices.
