BOLZANO. Established over a decade ago, Sharm week – seven days of vacation only in South Tyrolean schools at the beginning of November during the All Saints’ Day holidays, in particular to accommodate the families of hoteliers who have their facilities closed during that period – could be cancelled.
Not this year, but next year there are excellent possibilities and parents, forced to do somersaults to reconcile work and children, generally look favorably on this hypothesis.
Mark Etiquette – vice president of the Province with responsibility for schools, father of three girls aged 9 and 6, twins – in September intends to call a series of meetings with the superintendency, managers, unions, teachers and parents, to analyze the pros and cons of this solution.
Stop Sharm Week
«I am working – explains Galateo – to introduce the national school calendar in Alto Adige too, which would allow us to move the start of classes – which we planned for September 5 – to September 16. This would mean eliminating the Sharm week in November and perhaps delaying the closing of the school in June by a few days. Thus meeting the requests of many Italian families who live mainly in the city – out of a population of 22,226 students, from kindergarten to high school, 13,809 are concentrated in Bolzano; 4,101 in Merano; 4,316 in other municipalities – have different needs compared to the German group distributed in the valleys. For this reason I am also against the introduction of the unified timetable, or of the same entry and exit for everyone, which they would like to adopt in the German school».
Parents in favor
The possible revision of the school calendar pleases many parents: the overall school days would remain the same, but they would be spread out differently. “I see the solution more than favorably – comments Nadia Beordo, a nurse in a day service; a boy of 8 and a girl of 12 – which involves adopting the national calendar here too. A delayed start of school would allow families to take a few days of vacation in September, when prices are more affordable; or in any case even if you stay in the city, you can think about some trips with the children; something more complicated in November. Added to this is the fact that going back to school at the beginning of September, when it is still warm, is not the best.”
The lack of services
“The solution – explains Viviana Melis, a civil servant who recently returned to full-time service after 10 years of part-time work, mother of three boys aged 8, 10 and 12 – is not so much to spread out the school days differently, which ultimately must be the same from Brenner to Sicily; but to offer more services. It is true that there are summer camps and a series of initiatives during the school holidays, but they range from 80 to 120 euros a week, per child. In August I spent a large part of my salary to ensure entertainment and assistance for my children. I realize that teachers cannot be asked to babysit, but it is also not possible that families, for three months in the summer, have to struggle to reconcile work commitments and childcare. It is objectively very difficult, given that today two people work, not only by choice, but because otherwise you can’t make it to the end of the month”.
Even for Christa Ladurner, president of the Alliance for Families, the problem is not so much Sharm week but the solitude in which parents are often left, in managing the long periods in which schools are closed: «Three months of vacation in the summer is too much. No one in Europe takes that many. It is no coincidence that a petition has been launched at a national level asking to keep schools open in June and July with extracurricular activities». Marco Fontana, president of the headmasters’ association, invites not to delude oneself: «I understand the difficulties families have in organizing themselves, but if Sharm week is cancelled, vacation days will be added in other periods. The difficulties in finding accommodation for children would therefore remain».
2024-08-22 15:46:27