South African Matric learners from public schools return to school on Monday 3rd August 2020 after a week’s break.

Grade sevens will return next Monday and the rest of the grades are expected to return from the 24th of August 2020.

The National Teachers Union – NATU – says one in four schools in the country have not yet met COVID-19 requirements to resume classes.

These schools are believed to be largely in rural and township areas, with the majority of them in KwaZulu-Natal.

Recently the Department of Basic Education published a revised School Calendar which shows that schooling will end by the 15th of December 2020.

Spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education, Elijah Mhlanga said that they have decided to re open schools because it is not clear when the situation will stabilise so they would rather make sure they follow the Covid 19 health regulations as learners finish up their school work.

The South African education system was closed in March right after the outbreak of Covid 19 in the country and later opened in the beginning of June and then closed again in the beginning of July as the cabinet was assessing the progress made so far.