New 2024 school calendar has fewer holidays
The Department of Basic Education has now gazetted the confirmed school calendar for 2024 which starts on January 17, 2024 and ends on December 11, delivering a total of 203 school days – four more than in 2022 and 2023.
This latest gazetted calendar is in addition to the calendar for 2023 – published earlier this year.
According to the 2024 school calendar, there will be fewer school holidays, with the calendar making provision for just 25 days off, compared to 32 days in 2023 and 33 in 2022.
The 2024 calendar is structured in such a way that the school terms are not interrupted by as many public holidays, with schools only losing two days to public holidays – one day each in term two and three.
In 2022 and 2023, learners lost as many as eight days to public holidays.
In essence, most public holidays in 2024 will take place during school holidays.
The department was forced to make these changes to the calendar to make up for teaching losses felt during the Covid-19 pandemic which severely impacted teaching capacity and learner hours.
The department has previously estimated that learners in disadvantaged communities, especially, lost as much as a year’s worth of learning due to a lack of teaching contact time and a rotational learning system.
Further studies revealed that the losses were felt particularly hard in the fields of maths and science, as well as in basic language in the foundational phases.
Public and School Holidays 2024
1 January: New Year’s Day
21 March: Human Rights Day
29 March: Good Friday
1 April: Family Day
27 April: Freedom Day
1 May: Workers’ Day
16 June: Youth Day
17 June: Public holiday
9 August: National Women’s Day
24 September: Heritage Day
16 December: Day of Reconciliation
25 December: Christmas Day
26 December: Day of Goodwill
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Education