All public schools to follow same calendar in 2017
Public schools in all nine provinces will follow the same school calendar for the first time this year.
The school calendar for inland and coastal schools used to differ by a week.
The Department of Basic Education's Elijah Mhlanga says this needed to change.
"If we didn't do that, we would have lost some school days. We have to manage the calendar in such a way that each year we are able to save the time that we and not compromise learning time," says Mhlanga.
Mhlanga says they also got input from the public and different departments that would be affected by the change.
"We spoke to the tourism industry, the transport industry and the traditional and religious organisations who do various activities during the year as well as other government departments," says Mhlanga.
The first term starts on 11 January 2017.
