Back to school: Frustrated parents brave long queues at district offices

While some parents and pupils celebrate the milestone of their first day of school, frustrated parents who are desperate to find a placement for their children are in long queues outside district offices.

About 3,000 Grade 1 and 8 pupils have not been placed at a school in Gauteng.

This is the province's struggle with an overburdened system with more children than places available.

What was meant to be a sentimental milestone moment for parents and their children has been doused by administrative failures, which have resulted in some pupils not being placed at schools on the first day of the 2026 academic year.

Itumeleng Moreki is one of the parents who woke up early to line up outside the Morningside district offices.

He is a parent to both a Grade 1 and an 8, and has struggled to have them both placed at schools.

ALSO READ:

Gauteng township schools narrow the divide with many top performers

Gauteng Premier calls on the government to back the use of Artificial Intelligence in schools

Moreki said this is not how he imagined the first day of school for his grade one son would be.

He insists the Gauteng Education Department's system does not work as he started applying in September, tried again in December, and has still been unsuccessful.