The Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) has officially declared that all schools within the province have reached full capacity. The 2024 admissions season has successfully placed more than 180,000 learners in the region.
As of 11 December 2023, 120,778 learner applicants have secured placements in schools. This represents 99.43% placement rate for Grade 1 and 8 applications received for the 2024 school year.
Despite this, the WCED acknowledges the ongoing nature of the placement process, with 688 learners (0.56% of Grade 1 and 8 applicants) yet to be assigned. The department also handled a total of 176 late applications in the last three weeks.
The department urges parents to work together to accommodate the remaining learners. The are actively exploring all available avenues to secure placements for these learners at the commencement of the school year.
Despite facing a budget cut of R716 million, Western Cape officials are committed to expanding school capacity. Plans are in place to construct nine new schools and add 496 classrooms in high-demand areas for the 2024 school year, with the ultimate goal of delivering a total of 608 additional classrooms.
In total, our revised plan aims to deliver 608 additional classrooms across the province, which is still more than double the average number built annually before 2022/2023, despite the infrastructure budget cut.
To streamline the admissions process for 2024, initiatives were implemented to encourage timely submissions. The admission period, occurring between 3 March and 14 April 2023, aimed to address challenges arising from late application submissions.
We have put a great deal of effort into encouraging parents to apply on time during the admissions applications window, between 13 March 2023 and 14 April 2023. We provided pop-up sites across the province for parents to be assisted if they could not apply online. And our district offices have been accepting walk in applications since the online applications closed.
Despite these challenges, the WCED remains committed to placing every learner. However, parents are urged to acknowledge that Western Cape schools have reached full capacity. They are calling for patience as they anticipated that some learners may not be placed at the commencement of the 2024 academic year.
