LISTEN: Back to school: Last minute shopping rush
Some malls across the province have seen parents scurrying to do their last minute school shopping.
Children will shine their shoes and pack their bags tonight - ahead of the first bell of the new academic year, tomorrow.
ALSO READ: KZN schools ready for start of 2017 academic year
These Durban parents spoke to Newswatch while they were doing their last minute stationery shopping today.
Meanwhile, KZN Education Department spokesperson, Kwazi Mthethwa, says they're optimistic that the first day of the new academic year will be smooth sailing.
He told Newswatch that all KZN pupils will have a place at their respective schools - as compared to Gauteng - where thousands of prospective pupils remain unplaced.
"As the Department of Education in KZN we can confirm to you that all learners for the academic year 2017 have already been registered. As early as last October, we had already delivered stationery and learning materials to all schools in this province," he said.
Tomorrow will also be the first time that public schools in all of the country's nine provinces, will reopen at the same time.
Previously, the school calendar for inland and coastal schools used to differ by a week.