PERSISTENT education problems, year in- year-out in Gauteng seems not to be addressed on time.
Is this systematic, the department should respond?
Burning issue is the placement chaos that continues to besiege the department every beginning of the academic year, all because of the online application glitches.
As of now, thousands of Gauteng learners remain unplaced that provoked angry parents to protest at some schools.
The (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. This points to amongst others, infrastructure and poor planning, which unfortunately affects learners.
The department says “high-pressure zones” are 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 or urbanisation of learners from informal settlements and new housing developments.
Education MEC Matome Chiloane acknowledges Gauteng’s “high-pressure” zones, but piecemeal fixes won’t suffice.
The department has devised options to parents and hopefully next week, this matter placement should be arrested.
Its time parents, policymakers, civil and the department collectively work in tandem to deal with this matter, or this ugly head will keep popping up every year, thus exposing the department’s inefficiency dealing with placements, etc.
By the way this has now become a national problem, especially in affluent cities such as Cape Town and Durban.
Image supplied (Parents and learners queuing outside a Primary School in Randburg).
