Why not fix the annual holiday schedule for students?

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has proposed adding two more days of Lunar New Year holiday in 2025 for students in the city. In response, some parents have questioned, "Why is the holiday schedule different each year? Why not set a fixed holiday schedule so that parents can more easily plan for the break?"

The news that the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training proposed to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to add two more days to the Lunar New Year holiday in 2025 for students, from the originally planned nine days to eleven days (from the 24th day of the 12th lunar month to the end of the 5th day of the 1st lunar month), has attracted the attention of many readers.

Students and teachers decorate peach and apricot blossom trees to welcome the Lunar New Year.

However, this raises several questions: Since there's a Lunar New Year every year, why not fix the holiday schedule for students annually, making it easier for parents to plan their vacation, instead of changing it every year?

Notably, it is now the 11th lunar month, and many people living far from home or planning to travel long distances during the Lunar New Year holiday usually book train, bus, or plane tickets months in advance. Therefore, some argue that any changes to the number of holiday days at this time would be ineffective. If the travel schedule and dates were altered, each passenger would incur significant additional costs.

Parent nt.kimthanh1905 shared: "The changes came quite late because most parents from distant provinces had already bought tickets to go home for Tet. It was quite difficult because the Tet holiday was short. Parents also didn't dare to let their children take time off on their own for fear of them falling behind in their studies."

Commenting on Thanh Nien Online , reader Nguyen Thanh 79 wrote: "Why is the Tet holiday schedule different every year? Why not set a fixed Tet holiday schedule so that parents can easily plan for their children's vacation?"

It is suggested that the number of Tet holiday days should be fixed each year.

Having previously strongly advocated for the education sector to establish a fixed annual Lunar New Year holiday schedule for students, rather than changing it every year and then adjusting it at the last minute when people have already bought train, bus, or plane tickets, Mr. VN, a teacher working in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, continues to maintain this opinion in an interview with Thanh Niên Online .

A Vietnamese teacher commented: "Regarding the Lunar New Year holiday, I believe the number of days off should be fixed; for students, we should allow them a longer break, perhaps two weeks (14 days). This will ease traffic congestion and align with the school year organization methods of many countries around the world ."

According to Mr. VN, the duration of the school year has been specified in many documents from the education sector, so 35 weeks of actual schooling does not pose any difficulty in adjusting the holiday schedule. "Especially, a longer Lunar New Year holiday is significant for students, university students, and education staff in large cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City because of the large number of students and the fact that most people come from many provinces to live there. Giving them more days off will have many benefits such as: reducing traffic congestion, reducing travel costs for this group, creating time for energy regeneration, stimulating consumption, and boosting tourism ," Mr. VN explained.

The Lunar New Year holiday has educational significance, teaching students many useful things.

Reader Dao Thanh Liem shared with Thanh Nien Online : "It would be best to implement a 14-day Tet holiday, reducing the summer break by two weeks compared to the current one, because last year Ho Chi Minh City gave students a 16-day Tet holiday. Instead of ending the school year around May 24th to 31st, this year it should end from June 1st to 8th, and the same should apply in future years; there shouldn't be any changes."

Ms. Quynh Mai, a parent residing in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, also believes that the Tet holiday schedule and the number of days off for students should be fixed annually, with 14 days being ideal. Ideally, this would be from the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to the 7th day of the 12th lunar month. With such a fixed schedule, families and schools can more easily arrange their plans for the year, not to mention that Tet is also a time when students can learn many meaningful things.

In a survey conducted on Thanh Nien Online , 87% of readers supported the proposal that students in Ho Chi Minh City should have a 14-day Lunar New Year holiday. 9% of readers supported a 12-day holiday, while only 4% considered a 9-day holiday to be reasonable.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sao-khong-co-dinh-lich-nghi-tet-hang-nam-cho-hoc-sinh-185241207111738832.htm