Media statements

Every year, the start of the school calendar is marred by the recurring crisis of unplaced learners, leaving thousands of children—predominantly from black working-class families—without access to education for unreasonable periods. Despite numerous stop-gap measures from Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), the number of unplaced learners grows considerably each year.  Present interventions are not fit for purpose, as learners continue to face exclusion due to a lack of accessible information, administrative barriers, and piecemeal planning. Systemic reform is needed to confront the deep-seated failures in South Africa’s school admissions processes.  

PEDs including the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) have introduced some mechanisms to assist parents such as the WCEDs recent Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) for late applications that were developed as a result of EE’s Metro East court case victory or the GDEs satellite schools programme.

Earlier this year, EE parent members in Gauteng and the Western Cape visited schools, school communities, and education district offices to observe the first day of school; assist parents with applications; as well as raise awareness about the WCED SOP and begin monitoring its implementation. Over the past 2 months, we have found that learners remain unplaced well beyond the 21-day deadline highlighted in the procedures. Many learners do not receive the resource packs that would allow them to catch up on lessons while they wait to be placed. Parents continue to grapple with issues like using the online system including that it is inaccessible to those who are not comfortable using technology, and inefficient and unclear processes, particularly for late applicants and parents who object or appeal the department’s decision. Often schools closest to their residents reject the learner due to being “oversubscribed” or “full”. In addition to this, approaching education district offices directly can be a costly and fruitless exercise for caregivers. Some schools illegally withhold report cards of entry-phase learners due to non-payment of fees or voluntary contributions and the lack of coordination between schools, districts, and PEDs makes addressing these challenges even more difficult. 

In a presentation to parliament’s portfolio committee on education, the DBE highlighted that 28 371 learners remained unplaced a week into the 2024 school year. The department highlighted challenges such as learner migration into urban areas, late applications, overcrowding, and not enough teachers –particularly language teachers. However, the same presentation revealed that the post-basket for provinces like the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga have remained the same for the past three years despite learner increases, while the Western Cape infamously cut 2400 teacher posts. To add insult to injury the 2025 Budget Speech revealed that school infrastructure would continue to be underfunded in real terms. This will only exacerbate education departments’ lack of commitment to holistic forward-looking planning and justify the need for gradational solutions. 

“My two sons used to stay with their grandmother in Limpopo and she passed away at the end of last year. They had to move here with me. I brought a proof of address, their birth certificates and report cards with me but I have been asked for a transfer letter. I was not aware that learners going from primary to high school would need a transfer letter and there is no one back home who can get the letter from their old school. I do not know what I am going to do” A parent from Tembisa

“My child who is supposed to be doing grade 10  was expelled from school because I could not afford to pay the R100 ‘donation’ fee. The principal stated that the fee goes towards paying  for school security as well as kitchen staff and they said I should find a school that would not require a donation even though this is a non-fee paying school” – A parent from Ivory Park 

Piecemeal solutions such as the satellite school programme do not adequately deal with the challenges faced by unplaced learners or the glaring gaps in sometimes tone-deaf Admissions regulations. These solutions fall far short of addressing the root causes of the crisis and in some instances exacerbate existing challenges. The result is a perpetuation of inequality in an already precarious socio-economic environment, where black working-class learners disproportionately face barriers to accessing their Constitutional right to education. The dynamics created by factors like urbanisation and unemployment cannot continue to be ignored as the number of unplaced learners grows each year and opportunities to support spatial transformation and justice are not engaged. 

Legal frameworks like the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) and its clauses on school admissions and language policies are a commendable step in the right direction. Education departments must ensure that they provide oversight to ensure that it is implemented efficiently and proactively to deal with these contributing factors to the admissions crisis. This is a great step in the right direction, however supporting urgent measures to improve the admissions systems and make it more responsive and proactive need to be taken.  

A Call for Systemic Reform

The current admissions crisis is not merely an administrative issue; it is a reflection of broader systemic inequities in South Africa’s education system. The government must move beyond temporary fixes and address the structural barriers that prevent learners from accessing education. This includes:  

1. Learners who apply late are placed in school within a reasonable time;
2. Provincial education departments equip all schools with sufficient and appropriate classroom infrastructure as required by the Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure;
3. Provincial education departments develop forward-looking infrastructure development plans to address current and future overcrowding in schools;
4. Provincial education departments assist schools in providing the necessary catch-up plans and support for affected learners to recover potential learning losses so they do not fall further behind
5. National and provincial treasuries provide adequate funding to address resource aspects related to the ongoing admissions crisis including infrastructure, teachers and learning material and ensure that these funds are spent correctly. 
6. The Department of Basic Education develops binding school capacity norms to ensure more equitable distributions of learners in schools to prevent overcrowding; and
7. Learners allocated schools that are too far from their homes be provided with government-funded scholar transport.
8. Allocating resources and support to schools in underserved areas to bridge the gap between historically advantaged and disadvantaged institutions.  

Conclusion

The annual school admissions crisis is not only an administrative failure – it is a symptom of the structural inequality in South Africa’s education system. Many departments’ stop-gap efforts to deal with late admissions threaten to deepen these inequalities, when in fact they should be trying to resolve them. Rather than shifting blame onto learners and parents, the government must commit to systemic reforms that guarantee all learners their right to education. This means ensuring that no child is left unplaced for unreasonable periods, that schools have adequate infrastructure and resources to prevent overcrowding, and that proactive, forward-thinking policies replace the current cycle of crisis management.

The time for piecemeal solutions is over.