No one determines the time of winter vacation. Still, holidays are spent in the places where they have become established in the 1990s.
Southern Finns parents of schoolchildren now update the view of the weather application every so often. I'm interested in the weather next week, after all, the winter vacation is starting.
But why is winter vacation in the south exactly in week eight? Then the days are still a bit short, and it can be very cold. This can limit the length of the outdoor day. Especially if you are heading from the coast to another part of Finland.
Besides, it's only been six weeks since the Christmas holidays to go to school. After the winter vacation, there is a long wait for the summer vacation.
If to cut the spring semester in half, a suitable mid-term break could be week 12. Then there would be a dozen weeks of school work between Christmas and winter vacation, as well as between winter and summer vacation.
The winter vacation would therefore be from 15 to 24. March (according to this year's calendar).
At that time, there would be bright days and sparkling spring clothes! At best, you could go on excursions in a little frost or even in sheltered weather. Of course, you can no longer promise reliable skiing conditions in the south, but you can't have everything. In Lapland, on the other hand, you'd be at your best.
Anything there would be no obstacle to change. The municipalities themselves can decide on which day school starts at the end of summer, and where the fall vacation, Christmas vacation, and winter vacation are placed.
This has not always been the case.
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After the winter vacation, there is a long wait for the summer vacation.
In the early 1990s, school working hours were regulated nationwide. Then the law was changed and the decision-making authority about holidays was given to the municipalities.
In a few years, it was noticed that some kind of common policy is needed on the placement of holidays, so that the holiday weeks don't start to get mixed up. In 1995, entrepreneurs and various school authorities gave a recommendation to stagger the vacations to three weeks.
In 2001, Opetushallitus and the Municipal Council recommended staggered winter vacations to four weeks. However, the winter holidays have not been moved to week 11, which was included in that recommendation.
From somewhere for this reason, the winter vacations are stubbornly sitting in the places where they were established in the 1990s: in the capital region, in Turku and Pori, vacations take place in week 8, around central Finland in week 9, and in northern Finland and North Karelia in week 10.
Since there is no holiday rush in weeks 11 and 12, at least that would not prevent the municipalities from placing the winter vacation in the sunny March weeks.
However, the graduation exams fall on those weeks, which means that delaying the winter vacation would require some kind of extensive renovation to the schedules of schools and high schools.
The author is the editor of HS.
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