In a major overhaul of the school calendar, the South African Department of Basic Education announced key changes for 2025, impacting coastal and inland schools.
With a unified start date of 15 January and an entire week designated as special school holidays, these updates aim to streamline the academic year and adapt to public holiday overlaps, providing learners and teachers a unique break.
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.
Mhlanga added that 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 learners’ return.
“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.“
Mhlanga said the department reviews the impact of the policy every year 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.
Here are the changes:
- This start date is two days earlier than the 2024 school year, meaning the academic year will consist of 200 school days.
- 2025 is expected to have 27 standard school holidays, an increase from the 25 holidays in 2024.
- Unlike 2024, 2025 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.
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