Lunchboxes were packed and uniforms laid out across the country on Wednesday, as millions of children were getting ready to go back to school.

Almost a million grade ones were beginning their academic career and hundreds of thousands more were entering their final year of schooling.

The Education Department said it was ready for the academic year which had been slightly restructured around the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Pupils will have an extra long June holiday to accommodate the soccer spectacle but the department’s Granville Whittle said this would not affect teaching time.

“Any school year must be between 195 and 200 days long, 2010 is not different,” said Whittle.

Meanwhile, the pressure was on for matric pupils to try and improve the disappointing pass rate of 2009.