After various social media posts and petitions the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) wants to clarify the confusion around the closure date for the school year.
Schools across the country close on Wednesday 12 December 2018.
Nine schools have been selected as official NSC Marking Centres and will close earlier. The rest of the more than 1 500 schools in the province will close on Wednesday.
“If any schools have issued letters indicating that they are closing earlier than the 12 December 2018 then they are acting illegally,” the department said in a statement this week.
“These schools were informed well in advance of the dates for the 2018 school year.”
The WCED also said the perception out there is that the school holidays have been drastically cut is inaccurate.
“If we compare to last year, there were 197 school days,” the department statement says.
“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.”
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 will re-open on Wednesday 9 January 2019 for learners, for a 199 day school year in 2019.
