The Department of Basic Education wishes to clarify the issue of whether or not schools may take 28 to 29 April 2011 as holidays, as a result of numerous enquiries and requests from the public and education stakeholders to the department.
The department wishes to state that Thursday 28 April and Friday 29 April 2011 are not school holidays. The department is not in a position to amend the 2011 school calendar at this time in terms of the National Policy for Designing School Calendars for Ordinary Public Schools stipulates that “the calendar for a particular year must be designed sufficiently far in advance of the year it pertains to as to facilitate planning by all affected parties and stakeholders. The calendar must be available a minimum of eighteen (18) months in advance of the year it pertains to.”
The decision to allow schools to close on those two days is at the discretion of the Heads of Provincial Education Departments. Schools must apply in writing to the Head of Department in their respective province and must clearly indicate how they will make up the two days lost to normal learning and teaching.
Enquiries:
Granville Whittle
Cell: 072 148 9575
Source: Department of Basic Education
