Western Cape Education Department has urged parents urged to apply on time for 2027 school admissions
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The first day of applications for the 2027 school year in the Western Cape was met with some technical glitches on the online admissions system, even as political pressure mounts over learners who remain unplaced for the current academic year.
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) confirmed that some parents experienced difficulties when attempting to upload suburb information on the admissions portal shortly after applications opened on Monday.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the issue was quickly identified and resolved by the department’s technical team.
“The WCED received reports that some parents were experiencing difficulties uploading the suburb information. Our technical team was alerted immediately and resolved the issue by 6am this morning,” Hammond said.
She explained that parents who were already logged into the system at the time needed to log out and back in again for the update to take effect.
“Unfortunately, many parents continued using the same page without refreshing, which caused the error message to persist,” Hammond said.
According to the department, parents were advised through social media platforms and radio broadcasts to refresh the system by logging out and starting a new session.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. We would like to assure parents that the system is now functioning correctly,” Hammond added.
Parents who continue to experience technical issues have been encouraged to log out completely and re-enter the system through a new browser search or via the WCED website. The department has also made technical support available through its call centres.
The admissions process for the 2027 school year officially opened on 10 March 2026 and will run until 14 April 2026. The WCED has urged parents to apply before the deadline to avoid delays in securing school placements.
The technical hiccups come as the issue of learner placements remains under scrutiny in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.
Leader of the Opposition Khalid Sayed has submitted a request to the Speaker of the legislature calling for an urgent debate on the placement of more than 1 600 learners who were reportedly still without schools.
Sayed said the WCED had previously committed to placing the learners by the end of February, but that there had been no formal update on whether this promise had been fulfilled.
“The ANC warns that the ongoing failure to place these learners violates their constitutional right to basic education and places them at a severe disadvantage while causing distress to families awaiting clarity on their children’s schooling,” he said.
However, the WCED has disputed the figures cited by the opposition, saying the numbers change constantly as new applications continue to be submitted.
“The figures presented by Mr Sayed are already outdated. We are currently in the process of placing 208 Grade R, 1 and 8 learners, but this number changes daily in fact hourly as we continue to receive extremely late applications as well as place learners,” Hammond said.
She added that between 11 and 25 February alone, the department received an additional 2 908 applications for these grades. A further 51 new applications were submitted on Monday.
“As a result, even while we are actively placing learners, new applications continue to arrive including today making this a constant and continually shifting target,” Hammond said.
The department said thousands of applications were received well after the start of the school year, with some parents only submitting forms six weeks after schools had already reopened.
“It is the responsibility of parents to apply on time,” Hammond said.