Big shake-up for school calendars in South Africa in 2025 – with a whole week ‘written off’
The Department of Basic Education has confirmed the change to start dates for schools across the country will continue into 2025.
In 2024, the department made a significant change to school start dates, setting it so that schools in both coastal and inland regions would start at the same time.
This will continue into 2025, it said.
The gazetted and confirmed school calendar for 2025 shows that all schools will start on 15 January 2025 and end on 10 December 2025.
Previously, inland schools opened in the second week of January, while coastal schools resumed in the third week.
However, the total number of school days remained the same, and the calendar eventually merged during the year.
National Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said this was done to minimise traffic congestion on roads.
“The aim is to allocate different dates to the two clusters in the first term so that traffic density before the opening of schools for the new school year is kept within acceptable levels,” he said.
“School terms for learners must not begin on a Monday, as starting a term on a Monday leads to high traffic flow on the preceding Sunday and leaves insufficient time for school hostel staff to prepare for the return of learners,” he added.
Commenting on why inland and coastal schools are now starting on the same day, Mhlanga noted that changes in public holidays and other calendar determinants mean that the department must adjust to ensure no delays in the term.
“All possible steps must be taken to avoid a late start of the school year – that is, in the fourth week of January – as this pushes back all the terms,” he said.
“Each year, the Department reviews the impact of the policy and considers the number of days that will be available in the coming years based on the national calendar.
“The focus is on ensuring that there is no loss in terms of the number of days allocated for schooling,” he added.
According to the calendar, the 2025 school year will commence on 15 January and conclude on 12 December.
This start date is two days earlier than the 2024 school year, meaning the academic year will consist of 200 school days.
It’s worth noting that 2025 is expected to have 27 standard school holidays, which is an increase from the 25 holidays in 2024.
Despite this increase, the total number of school holidays is still fewer than in previous years.
Other notable changes
Unlike 2024, next year is expected to have three ‘special school holidays’. These holidays will be on the following dates:
- Tuesday, 29 April;
- Wednesday, 30 April; and
- Friday, 2 May 2025.
In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders are allowed to grant special school holidays whenever they deem them appropriate.
In 2025, the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders agreed to allow students and teachers a special school holiday during this time due to Freedom Day being observed on Monday, 28 April—despite the official date of the holiday being the 27th.
This is because, According to section 2(1) of the Act, “whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a public holiday”.
In the same week, Worker’s Day falls on Thursday, 1 May 2025. This resulted in the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders writing off the whole week by signing off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday as special school holidays.
The 2025 calendar will also observe six official public holidays during the school term compared to the two observed this year.
This is because most public holidays in 2024 will take place during school holidays.
The department has had to make these changes to the calendar to make up for teaching losses felt during the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely hampered teaching capacity and learner hours.
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