| New Year's Day - Wednesday January 1, 2020 Secular holiday : The world's most widely celbrated holiday, New Years was set on January 1 by Julius Caesar because that was the date the Roman consuls took over their duties. Not a paid holiday when falling on Saturday or Sunday
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| Beginning of school year - Wednesday January 15, 2020 School holidays : Https://www.kwathabeng.co.za
official calendar
35% of black Africans, 32% of coloureds, 61% of Indians/Asians and 76% of white citizens have completed high school
number of instructional days per year in lower secondary education: 200 days
Teaching languages: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
schools may remain open on Saturday
school uniforms required
University of Cape Town ranking: Times Higher Education #148/QS ranking #191/Shanghai #201-300
University of the Witwatersrand ranking: Times Higher Education #182/QS ranking #364/Shanghai #201-300
University of KwaZulu-Natal ranking: Times Higher Education #501-600/QS ranking #751-450/Shanghai #401-500
We carry all confirmed dates till Jan 2021
Contact edit@edit.fr to purchase the full calendar for South Africa or one file containing confirmed calendars of 550 countries and regions (pay service)
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| Regional holiday - Thursday February 27, 2020 Secular holiday : Majuba Day: Celebrates the end of the First Boer War. All set up for a sequel in May in Orania only
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| First mid-term (beginning) - Friday March 20, 2020 School holidays :
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| Human Rights Day - Saturday March 21, 2020 Secular holiday : On this day in 1960 the police killed 69 people at Sharpeville who were participating in a protest against the pass laws. Many were shot in the back. The carnage made world headlines. Four days later the government banned black political organizations, many leaders were arrested or went into exile. During the Apartheid era there were human rights abuses by all sides; Human Rights Day is but one step to ensure that the people of South Africa are aware of their human rights and to ensure that such abuses never again occur. [http://africanhistory.about.com]
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| First mid-term (end) - Wednesday April 1, 2020 School holidays :
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| Regional holiday - Monday April 6, 2020 Secular holiday : Founder’s Day: A day to commemorate Jan van Riebeeck. Can’t see it catching on outside of Orania. in Orania only
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| Good Friday - Friday April 10, 2020 Catholic or protestant : The First Council of Nicaea (a gathering of bishops in the early days of Christianity) wanted to find a day to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This commemoration had to be linked to Jewish holiday traditions, since the last supper of Christ was believed to be a Jewish Passover meal. But the Jewish calendar is based on lunar and solar cycles, so the Easter celebration had to follow the same calendar.
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| Easter - Sunday April 12, 2020 Catholic or protestant : Not a paid holiday
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| Family Day - Monday April 13, 2020 Secular holiday : It was typical in South Africa to take a day off of work after Easter. This day, which is also known as Easter Monday, was renamed as Family Day in 1995. This extra day off for the holiday was meant to give families more quality family time together and to allow them to go on vacations with friends and family.
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| Freedom Day - Monday April 27, 2020 Secular holiday : Commemorates the first post-apartheid elections, where South Africans of all races were freely allowed to determine the future of their newfound democracy. Held in 1994, they saw Nelson Mandela elected as President.
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