Overview
- The Department of Basic Education told Parliament on Tuesday that its monitoring uncovered widespread practices—school interviews, tests, score sheets and requests for documents like employment proof or photos—that turn admissions into selection processes disadvantaging poorer learners.
- The DBE singled out the Western Cape online system for giving individual schools control over placements instead of using automated, objective matching by distance or feeder zones.
- The WCED rejected claims of racial profiling after an internal review of 10 high‑demand schools and said placements are based on space, proximity and application date, while also reporting 70,520 extremely late 2026 applications linked to internal migration.
- The DBE has instructed schools to remove illegal criteria from policies and application forms and has rolled out joint training for officials, principals and school governing bodies to enforce the National Admission Policy and constitutional equality rights.
- Parliament’s Basic Education Portfolio Committee, chaired by Joy Maimela, is considering escalation to the Speaker and wider probes, and the legal dispute remains live with a November 2025 high‑court order suspended pending the Western Cape’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.