Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane says parents sitting with two offers of schools for their children but who have not yet accepted one of them is a factor delaying the process ofplacing grade 1 and 8 pupilsfor the 2026 academic year. He said 11,666 placement offers have been made to parents who are still waiting for confirmation from their schools of interest, despite that the schools of interest they are waiting for are full. You will find that a parent has got offers from two schools, and they have not accepted either of them.
Chiloane said the department will start automatically placing learners in the next seven days. “You will find that a parent has got offers from two schools, and they have not accepted either of them because they assume the school they prefer will come up. And that, on its own, delays us from placing other learners as well.
“So with these offers that have been put forward to parents — the 11,666 — after a period of seven days, we are going to move for automatic placement. So I would urge parents to decide,” he said. Chiloane was speaking at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg on the latest progress regarding the 2026 admissions.
Read Full Article on The Sowetan
[paywall]
He said Gauteng received 820,350 applications for grades 1 to 8. Chiloane said other delays were caused by the late submission of documents, parents only provisionally accepting offers, and others not accepting offers at all — “which on its own creates a delay” and “hogs the space”. He added that grade 8 placements were slowed down because “some of the parents wanted to change home language”, forcing the department to correct applications to ensure continuity from grade 7.
“The placement criteria remain the same; we don’t work on [a] first-come, first-served [basis],” he said. Chiloane said the department was looking to conclude placements by December 12, with late applications opening on December 17.
[/paywall]
