The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is in the process of placing 1,586 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners approximately 1.2% of applicants for the 2025 school year. As of February 7, 2025, a total of 131,800 applications, or 98.8%, have already been processed.
Western Cape Education Minister David Maynier addressed the challenge of oversubscribed schools, explaining that some learners who registered have not enrolled, creating available spaces. “What we currently are doing is we are finding that learners are not arriving at schools in other words, they registered but did not enrol so spaces are opening up at schools, and we are placing learners in those places. We also want to better understand the distribution of pressures.”
To address the demand, the WCED is rolling out additional infrastructure. “We are putting down mobile classrooms. I think 51 have been approved and are in the process of being put up, and 12 more will be approved shortly,” Maynier said. He added that the department is building three new schools and 127 classrooms to ease admission pressures.
Listen to the full interview below:
VOC News
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