Extra holiday week for schools in South Africa

Schools in South Africa will only see 12 official school days this month due to the many public holidays observed in April.

However, April 2025 is unique for schools as they will see an extra three ‘special school holidays’, giving teachers and pupils a week off.

According to the official calendar published by the Department of Basic Education, 2025 has 27 standard school holidays, up from 25 in 2024.

Despite this increase, the total number of school holidays is still fewer than in previous years. However, unlike 2024, this year is expected to have three special school holidays, which are as follows:

• Tuesday, 29 April;
• Wednesday, 30 April;
• Friday, 2 May 2025.

In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders can grant special school holidays whenever they deem appropriate.

These stakeholders include representatives from the Department of Transport, religious groups, NGOs, the private sector, and the department itself.

When compiling the 2025 calendar, the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders agreed to allow students and teachers a special school holiday ‘week’.

This is because Freedom Day is observed on Monday, 28 April, during the last week of April, despite the official holiday date being 27 April.

According to section 2(1) of the Act, “whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be a public holiday”.

Additionally, Worker’s Day falls on Thursday, 1 May 2025. The Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders wrote off the whole week by signing off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday as special school holidays.

Speaking to CapeTalk on the special concession, spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education Elijah Mhlanga said these decisions are made three years in advance.

“This is done to give the public and everyone involved in the school calendar enough time to plan, so there are no surprises when the time comes,” said Mhlanga.

Department of Basic Education explains

Discussing the current three special holidays, Mhlanga said that April was a problem because there were only close to 10 working days when public holidays and weekends were excluded.

He noted that having holidays during the week makes it even more challenging and emphasised that the decision to grant the week off was made due to the disruption the holidays would cause to productivity that week.

“These holidays are congested in a particular week, with one coming after the other, making it impossible for schools to remain open for an extended period,” said Mhlanga.

“This is because people also have their own plans. April is a huge religious holiday as well because of Easter, and people travel”.

However, he added that the department’s main concern is to look at the ordinary calendar and make sure students get their 200 days of school, no matter what happens throughout the year.

This is why the 2025 school year started on 15 January and concludes on 12 December. This start date is two days earlier than the 2024 school year, which allows for the 200 school days.

Despite a similar week in 2026—with Freedom Day falling on Monday, 27 April, and Workers’ Day on Friday, 1 May—Mhlanga said that the special holidays granted this year will not set a precedent.

He reiterated that the 2026 calendar has already been finalised, and special holidays have not been made for the same week next year.

However, the published 2026 calendar still provides one special school holiday, which will fall on a Monday (15 June) before Youth Day is observed on Tuesday (16 June).

“The advantage we give people is to send this out at least 18 months to two years before the year so that you can make your plans,” added Mhlanga.