Gauteng MEC pledges to reopen Soweto schools that have been closed

Matome Chiloane, the Gauteng MEC for Education, has pledged to reopen a few of the 16 Soweto schools that have closed.

An overview of the province's preparedness for the forthcoming National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, including the online admissions placements for students in Grades 1 and 8 for the 2026 academic year, was given by Chiloane on Sunday.

The DA in the province claims that at least 41 public schools have been closed as a result of unsafe infrastructure and inadequate long-term planning by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). He said that some of the schools were closed because of severe infrastructure issues that have led to overcrowding.

"For the 2026 academic year, we have seen a lot of major infrastructure challenges. We will be embarking on major infrastructure development programmes to make sure that we are able to deal with the problem," he stated.

Matome's address comes as reports have indicated that the township of Soweto has seen the closure of at least 16 schools due to infrastructure challenges.

On the matric exams, the MEC indicated that the province has registered more than 192,745 candidates, who have been recorded to sit for this year's National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.

This he said includes more than 144,246 full-time candidates and 48,499 candidates registered as part-time learners.

Chiloane said that the province has more than 1,000 examination centres, which have been earmarked to conduct the examinations.

"We have 144,246 full-time candidates. And we've seen an increase of 8,195 from the previous academic year, 2024. The other 48,499 are the part-time candidates. We have 1,040 centres that are registered to conduct examinations, for both full-time and part-time," he said.

When it comes to the placement of learners Chiloane stated: “The placement period will officially begin on Thursday, 16 October 2025. This is when placement offers will be sent to parents and guardians who have completed their applications. This year's online applications for both grades closed at the end of August 2025."

Chiloane added that GDE is set to invest in digital learning with interactive classrooms in township and primary schools, while strengthening support for special schools across the province.

"We as the department have introduced a total of 8,596 smart classrooms as part of our initiative to modernise learning spaces with state-of-the-art information and communications technology (ICT). The rollout prioritises township secondary schools and selected primary schools, in line with the GDE ICT Strategy," he said.

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