Here is the 2025 school calendar, with three ‘special holidays’
The proposed school calendar for 2025 has been released by the Department of Basic Education.
The current calendar for South African public schools shows that there will be an extra three holidays in 2025. This is due to ‘special school holidays.’
Here are the special school holidays:
Tuesday, April 29; Wednesday, April 30; and Friday, May 2.
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 will occur during school holidays.
According to the calendar, the 2025 school year will commence on 15 January and conclude on 12 December.
The 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, an increase from the 25 holidays in 2024.
Despite this increase, the total number of school holidays is still fewer than in previous years.
The Department of Basic Education’s 2024 school calendar shows that this year will comprise of 203 school days across four terms, which is four more days than was the case in 2023.
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The third term will run from 9 July to 20 September and will comprise 53 days – making it the longest term of the year.
DATES FOR THE 2024 TERMS Term 1: January 17 to March 20 (46 days) Term 2: April 3 to June 14 (52 days) Term 3: July 9 to September 20 (53 days) Term 4: October 1 to December 11 (52 days)
South Africa will have 14 public holidays in 2024 – which includes an additional day off to celebrate one public holiday which falls on a Sunday.
As mentioned, some will fall during school holidays, others will be welcome mid-week breaks for learners.
In a typical year, South Africa has 12 public holidays, which is roughly the average when compared to other countries.
The global average for public holidays is 11 days.
Workers in most European countries enjoy 10-14 public holidays a year. The United Kingdom, however, has only eight.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Myanmar has 30 public holidays, while Sri Lanka, Iran, India, and China have 29, 27, 21, and 17, respectively.
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN 2024 Monday, 1 January: New Year’s Day Thursday, 21 March: Human Rights Day Friday, 29 March: Good Friday Monday, 1 April: Family Day Saturday, 27 April: Freedom Day Wednesday, 1 May: Workers’ Day Wednesday, 29 May: Voting Day Sunday, 16 June: Youth Day Monday, 17 June: Public holiday Youth Day observed Friday, 9 August: National Women’s Day Tuesday, 24 September: Heritage Day Monday, 16 December: Day of Reconciliation Wednesday, 25 December: Christmas Day Thursday, 26 December: Day of Goodwill
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