Parents with incomplete applications are urged to reapply and upload all required documents.
Gauteng parents who missed the deadline to enrol their Grade 1 and Grade 8 children for 2026 will get another chance when late applications officially open in December.
This was announced by Gauteng MEC for Education and Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Matome Chiloane, during a media briefing on the province’s placement progress.
Late applications
Chiloane confirmed that late applications will open on 17 December 2025 and run until the end of January 2026.
“With late applications, you will only be allowed to apply at schools you see on the system. Oversubscribed schools will not appear. As you apply, you get placed – it’s automatic placement.”
Parents with incomplete applications are urged to reapply and upload all required documents.
87% of applications placed
Chiloane said the department received 820 354 online applications, which included duplicates, but the number of unique applications totalled 358 574 across Grades 1 and 8.
He said the province had placed 87% of completed applications, amounting to 317 988 pupils.
Of these:
- 160 262 Grade 1 pupils (91%) have been placed.
- 157 726 Grade 8 pupils (86%) have been placed.
“We are left with 40 586 pupils who still need placement,” he said, adding that this includes 15 530 Grade 1s and 25 056 Grade 8s.
Although the province has 87 000 open spaces, Chiloane emphasised that “the problem is not the number of spaces, but where they are located. These spaces that are required are in areas which are oversubscribed. These are high-pressure areas.”
He said Gauteng’s population shifts have created immense pressure in inner-city and established suburban districts such as Johannesburg East, Johannesburg North, Tshwane West and Ekurhuleni.
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11 666 parents still not accepting placement offers
Chiloane said a major cause of delays is parents failing to accept school placement offers.
“There are 11 666 offers currently in the hands of parents, and they have not accepted those offers. Some parents have two offers and are waiting for a preferred school to open up. This delays us from placing other pupils,” he said.
Parents will have seven days to accept their offers before the department triggers automatic placement.
He also warned parents that the system does not work on a first-come, first-served basis:
“We use placement criteria such as home address, feeder zones and siblings. Even if you applied first, if you stay 30 kilometres away, you will be further down the list.”
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Appeals only for parents whose choices had no space
Chiloane reiterated that only parents whose children could not be placed in any of their chosen schools may appeal.
“Parents cannot appeal a school they chose. If you chose five schools, it means you are happy with any of those five.”
He stressed that appeals must follow formal channels and cannot be made via WhatsApp, social media or direct messages to him.
Hundreds of full schools and severe demand
Chiloane revealed that 467 schools are already at full capacity – 217 primary schools and 250 high schools.
Some secondary schools received more than 3 000 applications for fewer than 300 places.
“It’s not that we are not placing learners; the numbers speak for themselves. Some schools received 1 000 applications for 160 spaces.”
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Infrastructure delays slowing expansion
The MEC criticised municipalities for delaying approvals needed to expand school infrastructure.
“Municipalities approve private estates quickly, but when we want to build classrooms or schools, they take forever.”
He said the department has delivered more than 30 799 classrooms in recent years and is building 1 100 more, which will create space for 61 750 pupils by March 2026.
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