Parents worry over longer school holidays

The number of school days has been reduced from 198 to 193 this year, which means there will be an extra week added to next year’s summer break.

This has caused concern for some parents, who worry that they will be unable to take care of their children for a full eight weeks.

“Closing down our schools for so long creates a problem across our entire society, because day care centres are not equipped to look after all these children over a full eight-week period,” says mother-of-three Anna Polina Leo Poulsen.

“I only heard about this two days ago. There has been no information about this, and now we feel like we have been left high and dry by the education system.”

Decision not made by schools

Jákup Eli S. Olsen, chairman of the Teachers’ Association, says the extended holidays are not a wish from their side.

“The education minister has decided to reduce the number of school days this year,” he says. “This is not something that has been discussed in the Teachers’ Association or, as far as I am aware, in schools.”

Teaching standards

The reduction of school days has also caused concerns among parents and teachers about the teaching standards.

“Our curriculum has been in need of upgrades for some time now, but it clear that with a loss of five school days it will be increasingly difficult to keep up with the current curriculum,” says Olsen.

Poulsen adds: “The authorities are creating a problem that has no solution. As I see it, parents will now need to compensate for those lost school days by doing extra homework with our children. So the problem has been moved from the schools to the parents.”

Translated by prosa.fo