WCED clarifies confusion around December school holidays
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Cape Town - Schools in this Western Cape, as well as all other provinces, will officially close on December 12, 2018, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has confirmed.
The only schools that can close early are the small number of schools that have been selected as official NSC Marking Centres.
This comprises of only nine schools out of over 1 500 in the province.
Therefore holidays will begin on December 12, 2018 for learners and the December 14 for educators - making it a 199 and 203 day school year for learners and educators respectively.
"If any schools have issued letters indicating that they are closing earlier than December 12, 2018 then they are acting illegally. These schools were informed well in advance of the dates for the 2018 school year," said WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond.
"The WCED provided planning guidelines in September 2017, in order for schools to plan their timetables accordingly for 2018.
"It must be noted that while the perception out there is that school holidays have been drastically cut, is untrue.
"If we compare to last year, there were 197 school days. Therefore the amount of days that both learners and educators have for school holidays – remains relatively the same. The number of school days, both in 2018 and in 2019, remain the same," Hammond said.
"It must also be noted that of the 365 days in a calendar year, learners attend school 199 days. Therefore 166 days are spent on holidays and weekends.
"The school calendar is determined at a national level and was released well in advance in 2016," she said.
"This school timetable, as determined by the National Department of Basic Education, is compulsory and all public schools (teachers and learners) are legally obliged to adhere to it."
Schools then re-open on January 9, 2019 for learners, for a 199-day school year.
@TheCapeArgus