Gauteng to stagger school funding payments until March as 77,464 pupils await placement

The Gauteng Department of Education revealed that nearly 80,000 pupils have not been placed in either Grade 1 or Grade 8 for the 2027 school year. The department received 346,495 applications for the upcoming academic year, with 169,182 for Grade 1 and 177,313 for Grade 8. Despite significant progress in placing pupils, only 267,742 have been placed so far, resulting in a 81.26% placement rate for Grade 1 and 73.47% for Grade 8. This leaves 77,414 school applicants unplaced, with 30,527 in Grade 1 and 46,887 in Grade 8.

Gauteng MEC for Education Lebogang Maile attributed the issue to the high population growth in the province, which also attracts families seeking employment and improved public services. Maile noted that 278 schools have reached capacity, and unplaced applicants unable to attend these schools are transferred to the nearest available school. The applications are mainly concentrated in the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni.

Maile defended the online admission system, stating it promotes transparency and fairness in allocating school spaces. However, he acknowledged that some parents are partially responsible for the backlog, as 10,983 school offers have not been responded to by parents, and over 1,300 offers have only been provisionally accepted. These unconfirmed offers represent 12,322 spaces that may remain temporarily unavailable to other pupils in need of placement.

Maile emphasized that all pupils will eventually be placed in schools, but not all will be placed at their parents' preferred school due to space constraints.