Gauteng Education MEC, Mr. Matome Chiloane, announced today that the Department has made substantial and accelerated progress in resolving the critical annual challenge of placing learners for the 2026 academic year. With schools set to reopen on 14 January 2026, the number of unplaced Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners has been drastically reduced to 4,858.
This figure represents a remarkable decline from the over 15,000 learners reported as unplaced in mid-December 2025. The dramatic reduction is attributed to what MEC Chiloane called a “targeted, relentless, and data-driven placement drive” undertaken by departmental officials throughout the holiday period.
“The tireless work of our officials, often working beyond normal hours, is bringing us closer to our goal of ensuring that every child in Gauteng has a desk on the first day of school,” stated MEC Chiloane. “We are now in the final stretch. The 4,858 learners remaining are our absolute priority, and we are confident we can place the vast majority before the school bell rings.”
The MEC highlighted several key strategies behind the progress:
- Daily Placement Operations: A dedicated team has been working daily to match learners with available spaces, leveraging a centralized digital system to identify pockets of capacity across the province.
- Activation of All Available Space: The department has been working with school principals to maximize class sizes where infrastructure allows, and to finalize placements at new schools and those that have completed infrastructure upgrades.
- Focused Communication: Teams have been directly contacting parents of unplaced learners to offer available spots, often in schools that may not have been their first choice but are within a reasonable distance.
However, MEC Chiloane issued a critical appeal to the parents and guardians of the remaining unplaced learners. “Our biggest hurdle at this stage is non-responsiveness. We have offers waiting, but we need parents to log into the system and accept the places offered. I implore every parent who has not yet received a final confirmation to check their online portal and SMS messages urgently. Our ability to close this gap depends on this partnership.”
The department acknowledged that the final few thousand placements are often the most complex, involving learners in areas of extreme population pressure, late applications, or those with specific logistical constraints. They assure the public that contingency plans, including the possibility of mobile classrooms or carefully managed transfer arrangements in the first week of term, are being prepared for the hardest-hit zones.
Background: The annual learner placement process in Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province, is a significant logistical undertaking driven by intense in-migration and high demand for quality schooling. The 2026 application period saw hundreds of thousands of applications for Grade 1 and Grade 8, the two primary entry points.
Next Steps: The Department’s Online Admissions Portal will remain active for acceptance of placements. The placement command centre will operate until Friday, 9 January 2026, after which focus will shift to in-person assistance at district offices for those still unresolved.
Quote from MEC Chiloane: “We are not resting. Every unplaced child is one too many. This progress shows what is possible when we work systematically, but the final step requires parents to work with us. Let’s get Gauteng’s children ready to learn.”
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