Western Cape parents face admissions anxiety as department blames ‘double-parked’ offers

On 28 May 2026, the Western Cape Education Department published its much-anticipated admissions outcomes for Grade R, 1, and 8 learners before the 2027 academic year. What was supposed to be a moment of relief for families has instead triggered the annual wave of panic, as parents face rejections, opaque allocation criteria, and the prospect of their children being placed far from home.

The centralised online system has left many families baffled by how placements are actually decided. One parent who spoke to Daily Maverick described the admission process as “flawed”.

“It worked so much better previously when parents could liaise directly with schools for placement. Now it is a very frustrating process that does not make sense because my daughter is not accepted at a school on the next road… how is that possible?” said the mother, who asked to stay anonymous.

Sandisa Mgubasi questioned why the system fails to automatically cap allocations, allowing a lucky few to have multiple offers while others are left empty-handed.

“One child can have three offers while another has none, and we are told to just be patient to see if spaces open up,” she said, adding that parents were hyper-aware that they were all fighting for the same limited pool of well-resourced schools.

“All of them are oversubscribed, and thousands of children are being rejected by their local schools. Our children have a right to education by law, but the process is a nightmare because there are just not enough schools in the Western Cape,” she said.

Mgubasi said she applied to five schools only to find that all of them were oversubscribed. She expressed frustration that the placement system felt like it sidelined certain parents, leaving her deeply anxious about whether her child would secure a spot at all.

Other parents, like Hibury Mhlaba, say the system feels designed to keep them out. This was the second year she applied for her son’s Grade 1 placement, and she has currently had seven unsuccessful outcomes.

“Last year, I applied to five schools and received the same result, appealed at each school, but all appeals were declined,” Mhlaba said. She described her neighbourhood’s local school as one that does the “bare minimum”, forcing her to look further afield.

“I refuse to apply to a school of that nature. Now that I’m applying outside my area to so-called Model C schools, they systematically exclude us,” she said.

The ‘double-parking’ problem

Anticipating the backlash, Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier issued a statement before the release on 26 May clarifying that the department did not dictate placements. Instead, individual schools determined admission outcomes based on their own internal policies.

Maynier added that the initial release of results could be misleading because many learners held multiple offers at the same time.

“At the point when outcomes are first released, a substantial number of learners will have received offers from more than one school. For example, last year over 40,000 learners had multiple successful outcomes at various schools and were initially ‘double parked’ on the system,” he said.

This means some places appear occupied even though those learners have not yet confirmed which school they will attend.

Acknowledging the emotional toll on families, Maynier stressed that the process did not end with the initial release, as there was significant movement in placements over the days and weeks that followed.

Building against the backlog

The ongoing admission concerns highlight the broader capacity issues facing the province. In January, the Western Cape Education Department indicated that the province would accommodate 1.2 million learners in 2026 as the demand for places continues to grow. To help alleviate the pressure, the department’s Rapid School Build programme completed nine new schools for the current academic year.

These are located in Lwandle, Wallacedene, Blue Downs, Philippi, Tafelsig, Darling, Fisherhaven, and Plettenberg Bay. The first phases of two additional schools, Ilitha Park High School in Khayelitsha and Brantwood High School in Kuilsriver, were also opened. Furthermore, 175 brick-and-mortar classrooms were added to 12 existing schools, with School Governing Bodies currently constructing another 21 classrooms using department funding.

What should parents do next?

Parents of unplaced children are advised to ensure their contact details are correct, as schools will contact them directly when spaces open up. In the meantime, parents can contact the schools they applied to and submit a written request to the School Governing Body (SGB) asking for their application to be reconsidered.

The department appealed for patience, adding that it remains committed to placing every learner. If a placement is still not secured later in the process, the department will assist with placing the child at an appropriate school during the third term.

Maynier’s spokesperson Kerry Mauchline said they had received 167,000 placement applications for grades R, 1 and 8 in 2027 during the on-time admissions window.

“The system is currently live, with schools making offers and parents confirming offers all the time. A list of learners without any offers is drawn later this year, when the process moves into a phase where districts assist with alternate placement,” she said.

Mauchline said ensuring the placement of more than 200,000 learners each year was an unbelievably difficult task, and yet it was achieved by the department each year.

“Our primary challenge is not on-time applications, as the overwhelming majority of these learners have places by the end of the year. The far greater challenge is learners just before the end of the year, all the way up to two months after school has already started. We do not know where these learners will arrive, and each will have unique requirements for placement. Despite this, we keep working until we resolve all placement applications for the year,” she said.

Mauchline said that the overwhelming majority of parents who received more than one offer, received two.

She explained that almost every school in the province had more applications than available spaces, and this was why the department was investing so heavily in new schools and additional classrooms at existing schools. DM