The final exam period starts on 5 November and will conclude on 15 December.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga was responding to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday about the department’s response to COVID-19 as all pupils had now returned to class.
Motshekga was addressing members of the National Assembly during a debate of national importance on Tuesday.
Government schools will be closed from Monday until 24 August.
Unions have intensified calls over the past week for schools to be closed, at least until after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The church's call comes in support of the South African Human Right Commission seeking the continued opening and operating of as many of the country’s schools as possible.
The Council of Education Ministers (CEm) said that groups or individuals did not have the authority to close schools, adding that parents had options if they choose not to take their children back to school for now.
Cosas is one of the groups calling for schools to stay closed as the country heads towards the COVID-19 peak.
The grade 7 pupil was attacked at knife point in the Harry Gwala region this week after being sent home for forgetting her mask.
The union has been calling for a delay in learners' return to the classroom as the coronavirus has not yet been contained.
About 2.5 million grade R, 6 and 11 pupils will return to school this morning after four months of being home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grades R, 6 and 11 pupils will be joining the grade 7s and matrics.
The department briefed the state on the readiness of schools ahead of a further reopening of the sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister is expected to share more details on the revised plan on schooling in the country.
It’s been anything but smooth sailing since schools first re-opened their doors last month, with over 700 institutions affected by the outbreak.
Minister Angie Motshekga said that officials were working hard to ensure that all schools were COVID-19 compliant before receiving pupils.
KZN Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu has told Eyewitness News that it will be impossible to accomodate more grades without additional funding.
A high school in Mount Frere had to close again after almost 200 pupils and staff tested positive for the virus.
