Hon Chairperson, there are 199 school days in 2009. In 2010 there will be 196 days, or 195 days if a public holiday is added. The school year begins a week earlier in 2010. Mid-year there is a five-week- long holiday and schools close a week later in December.
The top public secondary schools in the country have leaders who believe that it is ludicrous to have a five-week break in the middle of the year. A Naptosa, National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA, spokesperson is more understated. Still, she says that it is not, I quote: "... ideal that teachers and learners down tools for five long weeks as this may have a paralytic effect on their learning". [Time expired.]