School holidays for second term start on Monday June 28 |24 June 2021

PS de Commarmond (Photo: Jude Morel)

Tomorrow Friday June 25 is the last school day of the second term for students in public schools across the country as Monday June 28, is the start of the school holidays.

The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, has decided to shift the August school holidays which will now start tomorrow instead of the scheduled August 6, 2021.

The decision has been taken in view of the recent rise in the number of Covid-19 cases among school children and teachers and which has forced some schools across the country to partially or completely close down.

Students from the School of Advanced Level Studies and other post-secondary institutions will continue to attend their normal classes. Some primary and secondary students who are preparing for their international exams will, through special arrangements with their respective schools, continue to attend certain sessions. The decision for the early school holidays does not apply to children in pre-schools.

The announcement was made by the principal secretary for Education, Dr Odile de Commarmond, in a press conference held at the ministry’s command centre. She said that the usual five-week August school holidays for crèche, primary and secondary schools on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, will be split into two with the first three weeks to start on Monday June 28, 2021, ending on July 16, 2021 with school resuming on July 19, 2021. She noted that the ministry will later see how it will give back the remaining two weeks holidays.

“It was felt that it was better to take the decision now and see how things improve,” Dr de Commarmond said.

Dr de Commarmond stated during the first week of the holidays the teachers will be present in all schools to prepare lesson packs to be given to students while the other two weeks will be as the school holidays.

She called on parents to ensure that their children get and do their lessons and if the lessons are not enough, they can contact the teachers at their respective schools for more extra lessons.

She said that although with a few hiccups and challenges, the standard operating procedures in place against Covid-19 in schools are being constantly updated with regard to new information about the virus received from the Ministry of Health. She noted that apart from some children, who are not being vaccinated at the moment, and teachers catching the virus in schools, some of them are contracting the virus in the community and are bringing the virus to the schools.

Dr de Commarmond urged parents to refrain from sending their sick children to school and for the students to stay at home and refrain from venturing across the country without valid reasons, and to wear a mask wherever they go.

Patrick Joubert