The Department of Basic Education has amended the schooling calendar that will see pupils have one less week to rest during the June holidays next year.
According to the calender published by the department last week, pupils will return to school on 25 January for the start of the year.
The calendar has been shortened because of the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown, which led to the closure of schools, delayed end-of-year exams, and affected the marking of scripts and reopening of schools.
Some teacher unions reacted positively to the calendar changes, but were concerned about the shortened school holidays in winter.
The first term will run from 25 January to 31 March.
The second term will be from 13 April to 25 June.
The third term will be from 13 July to 23 September.
The last term will be from 5 October to 8 December, with 47 days of teaching and learning.
National Professional Teachers Association of SA executive director Basil Manuel told the Mercury they were consulted about the calendar about a month ago and were generally happy with the changes.
“We are concerned about the fact that the June holiday has been cut by a week, the holidays will now be two weeks instead of the three.
“June is a bitterly cold month for many of our little ones who have to walk to school.”
National Teachers Union president Allen Thompson said: “We are still going to have a thorough analysis of the timetable during our board meeting, but it looks like the department did take some of our submissions into consideration.”
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