As South Africa's schools prepare to reopen on 14 January, thousands of Gauteng learners remain unplaced. This is despite government assurances that the crisis is under control.
On 6 January, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) reported 4,858 unplaced Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners, down from a staggering 140,000 nationally in early December 2025, with Gauteng accounting for the bulk. While this marks progress, the lingering backlog exposes systemic failures in planning and infrastructure that undermine the country's commitment to Social Development Goal 4: inclusive and equitable quality education.
Urban pressure points
Hotspots like Ekurhuleni, with 3,169 unplaced learners, reveal the strain of rapid urban migration on township schools. Parents face mounting anxiety as the academic year looms, with appeals and daily placements continuing well into January.
Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines
The GDE cites "high-pressure zones" as the root cause, but critics argue that chronic underinvestment and poor forecasting perpetuate this annual crisis. Township schools are already overcrowded and cannot absorb the influx of learners from informal settlements and new housing developments.
This is not a new phenomenon. Gauteng has faced similar placement bottlenecks for more than a decade, yet the scale of the 2026 crisis underscores how reactive measures, such as temporary classrooms, fail to address structural gaps.
The numbers behind the chaos
Placement rate: nearly 99% of 12 million applications have been processed nationally.Outstanding appeals: 6,736 cases are...
