The 2025 academic year officially began today, marking an exciting milestone for over 1.2 million learners in the Western Cape.
Among them, 107,000 Grade 1 pupils took their first steps into formal schooling, while 100,000 Grade 8 learners embarked on their high school journeys. The first day of school was celebrated with visits from Premier Alan Winde and Education MEC David Maynier, who welcomed learners, parents, and teachers at Timour Hall Primary School in Plumstead.
Premier Winde shared words of encouragement with the youngest learners.
“It is alright to be a bit nervous on your first day of school. But always know that there is someone to help you. By creating a balance between your schoolwork and play time you will be able to achieve so much more.”
At the same time, Winde noted that there will be challenges as with any other year but addressing them and improving is top of the agenda.
“It’s the start of the new year and of course, we’ve got budget pressures. We don’t know how many people are going to pitch up for school in the next month or two… [But] we’ve got most [placements] done now, so 98% placement… That’s the churn and the grind of education. But it’s critical that we get these things right and we improve.”
That 98% makes up 118 914 learners who started school on Wednesday. The remaining 2%, which constitutes 2,478 learners, were yet to be placed at a school in the Western Cape. Maynier says this excludes the 300 extremely late applications, received as of the start of 2025 – which is about nine months after applications closed. He says his department will work as hard as they can to address learner placement issues as soon as possible.
“To deal with the extremely late applications is a challenge because it’s very difficult to forecast, first of all, the distribution, where will learners present themselves, and of course then we have to deal with specific language choices, subject choices, and any special needs that learners may have… We are going to work hard with districts, with schools, and with parents to ensure that we place those learners.”
But a plan may only be implemented two weeks from now. Maynier says they assess the situation at schools in the province during this time.
“There are many learners who register, but then do not actually enroll at the school, and after the first 10 days, we conduct a survey. We then have much better data, and we will be able to start to place those learners.”
New schools & classes
The Western Cape Department of Education announced significant infrastructure developments to accommodate the growing student population, including the completion of nine new schools and 265 additional classrooms this year. Education MEC David Maynier also highlighted plans to add up to 477 teaching posts to meet increased demand.
“While this decision will have further implications for our budget deficit, it is crucial that our new and existing schools have the resources they need to accommodate additional learners in 2025.”
