About School Calendar ZA

What the site covers

The site shows public school term dates, school day counts and the breaks between terms. Independent schools set their own dates.

The right now panel counts days to the next school holiday and public holiday, and school days left in the term and year. A printable year grid and calendar files let you use the dates on paper or in a phone or computer calendar.

Who runs the site

Orel Zigi runs the site as an individual based outside South Africa.

Where the dates come from

The Minister of Basic Education publishes the public school calendar in the Government Gazette under section 3(4)(k) of the National Education Policy Act 27 of 1996, after consulting the Council of Education Ministers.

The Department of Basic Education first publishes a proposed calendar for public comment, followed by a final calendar in a later Gazette. The calendar applies to public schools in all nine provinces.

Public holiday dates follow the Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994. Schedule 1 lists twelve public holidays.

Every date comes from a saved copy of an official page or Gazette from gov.za or education.gov.za. Each copy has a fingerprint, called a checksum, so a later change to the official page can be detected.

Weekdays and day counts are calculated from the dates, then compared with the counts printed in the Gazette. A separate second check compares every date with the saved copies before publication.

Where official pages disagree, the site follows the Gazette and explains the difference on the affected page. A school calendar that has not been published shows no dates.

Corrections

Report a date that differs from the Gazette through the contact page. Include the page address and a link to the official source.

Operator