Major 2026 Grade 1 and 8 placement milestone reached

2026-03-04 - 06:43

Gauteng MEC for Education Matome Chiloane has announced the complete placement of all remaining Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils who applied through the province’s 2026 Online Admissions system. At the start of the week, approximately 484 pupils remained unplaced in Ekurhuleni, specifically in Tembisa and Kempton Park. Chiloane on Wednesday confirmed all outstanding pupils had been placed at alternative schools in the affected areas. Nearly 400 000 pupils placed In total, 392 224 Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils have been placed for the 2026 academic year through Gauteng’s Online Admissions system. The majority of applications were submitted during the main application window, which ran from 24 July to 5 August 2025. 8.5%, amounting to 33 650 applications, were lodged during the late application period between 17 December 2025 and 30 January 2026. “The Department wishes to express its sincere appreciation of the patience and resilience shown by parents and guardians, particularly while tireless efforts were underway to secure placements for all remaining pupils,” it said. ALSO READ: Basic education gets R22.7bn boost, but R120bn infrastructure backlog looms Catch-up plans and new schools According to the GDE, schools will implement catch-up plans to help affected pupils recover lost curriculum time. Chiloane described the Online Admissions system as a key tool in transforming access to public schooling in the province. “The Online Admissions system remains an important transformation tool to ensure all our schools are accessible to all our children. We are pleased to have demonstrated this through the placement of all applicants who applied online,” he said. However, he acknowledged ongoing frustrations with the system and pledged improvements. “In addition to system improvements, the Gauteng government will be constructing 18 additional new schools to increase capacity in the high-pressure areas that we have identified,” Chiloane added. NOW READ: More than 3 000 schools in SA still have inappropriate buildings – DBE