Pyotr Kurtukov is indicated as the representative of the initiative. He does not understand “who really needs a practically three-month break in the learning process”.
Describing the rhetorical question, he pointed out that parents do not know where to leave their children at this time, because most employers allow only two to three weeks of vacation at a time. Also, children spend a disproportionate amount of time on smart devices in the summer.
“Children not only forget most of the learning material in practically three months in the summer, but also lose the habit of learning. However, teachers complain that nine months is not enough for them to do quality work as educators,” says Kurtukov.
According to him, September 1 is not a holiday of knowledge, but “the beginning of punishment for the next nine months for children, teachers and parents”.
Meanwhile, the vacations set during the semester are too short to go somewhere with the family or otherwise plan a full-fledged rest and being together as a family.
“The structure of the current school year was created in the Soviet Union, and independent Latvia is following it until now. Maybe we should try to take something good from Europe, not from the past?” in the initiative is offered by its author.
He is sure that a month and a half long summer vacation would be quite enough. On the other hand, the autumn, winter and spring holidays should be extended to two weeks.
As a result of such changes, the learning process for children would be smoother, less jerky and less stressful.
“We don’t need the whole of August to “prepare” children for the new school year. The learning process will not be squeezed into nine months, and teachers will have an extra month to provide high-quality teaching material,” concludes Kurtukov.