As the 2026 school year gets under way, scenes of frustration, disruption and fragile hope are playing out across the country. From unplaced learners and fee disputes in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, to flood-hit schools in Limpopo, overcrowded classrooms and infrastructure backlogs in the Eastern Cape, and smoother starts alongside last-minute pleas in parts of the Western Cape, parents and pupils are confronting a deeply uneven education system. While some schools opened their doors with confidence, thousands of children remain at home, waiting for placement.
Outside the Gauteng Department of Education district offices in Sandton, angry parents whose children have yet to be placed in schools surrounded Basic Education spokesperson Steve Mabona, demanding answers. “I started applying on 27 July, and for five months the department has been telling me they will sort out the placements. It’s been months I have been trying to sort it out, but still nothing.
My daughter was supposed to start Grade 8 today, but she is sitting at home. How long will she sit at home until they sort this out?” Parent Lesiba Gwangwa said. Speaking to Daily Maverick outside the offices, Mabona said that nearly 3,000 students remained unplaced for myriad reasons, including: However, parent Kate McKinnin, who spoke to Daily Maverick outside the district offices, said that she had received an acceptance notification to Linksfield Primary School.
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When she went to the school on Monday, 12 January, the school said her son, Joshua, had not been placed there. Joshua, who was meant to start Grade 1, said he was feeling terrible that he could not start school with the rest of the country. While Mabona could not provide Daily Maverick with concrete timelines, saying that the school must first check if they had capacity, he claimed that the placements issue should be sorted by the end of the week.
“Exact time frames are difficult due to the school-by-school negotiation process and the 10-day headcount period for schools to assess final capacity,” he said. He added that negotiations were ongoing, with the department asking schools to increase their capacity by offering 10-20 additional spots. To try and mitigate overcrowding at schools that decided to take more learners, the department would deploy mobile classrooms to highly pressured schools to expand capacity.
However, additional resources, such as teachers and learning materials, were still required. Severe flooding in the Vhembe District has delayed the reopening of schools there, with learners unable to attend classes due to flooded rivers, damaged roads and unsafe access routes.
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