Education minister mulls canceling school on Fridays

The Education Ministry is looking into rescheduling school vacations and doing away with classes on Fridays, Education Minister Shai Piron said Sunday.

The idea was raised in an attempt to bridge what parents described as an unthinkable discrepancy between the number of vacation days school children are given and the average working parent’s days off: excluding national holidays, Israeli children enjoy some 70 days of vacation more than their parents.

Having children out of school while parents are at work causes a number of problems, including a heavy financial burden on families who need to hire babysitters or send the kids to camps.

The proposed plan, which Piron emphasized was only being examined and far from final, would move 37 of the students’ vacation days to the Fridays throughout the school year to better align with the five-day work week largely practiced in the country.

According to the plan, Hanukkah’s vacation would be slashed from a full week to four days, the summer holiday shortened by three weeks (to six instead of nine) and other vacations trimmed, NRG reported.

Such a plan would ease the burden on working parents, many of whom don’t work on Fridays. The plan would also guarantee teachers continue to receive the same number of vacation days they already enjoy.

Piron, who headed a number of educational organizations before taking office, asked a special ministerial committee to hand in its recommendations within a month, so as to start the next school year with an updated calendar, NRG said.

Shortening the school year and shortening vacations have to be done carefully, with the involvement and input from teachers and parents alike, Piron posted on Facebook. The discrepancy in vacation days between students and parents is absurd and it’s obvious “something here is begging to be changed. But these changes can’t be done rashly,” wrote Piron.