Ministry of National Education makes its decision: Summer break to be shortened, school year to be extended

The Ministry of National Education (MEB) will not be making any changes to the mid-term breaks.

According to a report by Sabah, the mid-term breaks in November and April will continue to be implemented.

The mid-term break practice will continue in the coming years.

On the other hand, the MEB is preparing a study to extend the number of school days. In other words, while the breaks will remain, students will attend school for a longer period.

The Ministry of National Education (MEB) aims to increase the number of school days from 180 to 200.

According to the previously announced calendar, the 2024-2025 academic year will begin on September 9, 2024. It is planned to extend the total number of school days by shortening the summer break.

DROPS TO 160 DAYS

In Turkey, the total number of school days is 180, with 90 days in the first semester and 90 in the second. The number of school days is calculated by excluding public holidays, national and religious holidays, and weekends. In other words, students attend school for a total of 180 days within an academic year.

However, this period is further shortened due to reasons such as snow days and adverse weather conditions. Since the weeks before and after holidays are also unproductive in terms of lessons, the 180-day school year effectively drops to at least 160 days. In developed countries, this period is over 200 days.

In Finland, Hong Kong, Germany, and New Zealand, a student attends school for 190 days a year. Students attend school for 193 days in Singapore, 194 days in Canada and Shanghai, 200 days in the Netherlands, 210 days in Japan, and 220 days in South Korea.

SUMMER BREAK MAY BE SHORTENED

It has been learned that the summer break may be shortened to increase the number of school days to 200. In Turkey, the summer break was 13 weeks before the implementation of the mid-term break. As of the 2019-2020 academic year, this period was reduced to 11 weeks. However, when compared to other countries, this period is still quite long.

New Zealand has a 5-6 week summer break, South Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Hong Kong have 6 weeks, Germany has 6-6.5 weeks, Taiwan and Shanghai have 9 weeks, Finland and America have 10-11 weeks, and Estonia has an 11.5-week summer break. Students in Sweden have a 10-week summer break, while those in England have 6 weeks.