Status quo for the moment. The Minister of Education Gabriel Attal indicated, Tuesday, November 28, that the transition from three to two vacation zones, studied by a commission on the school calendar, was “not part of his immediate plans”, even if it would “look” at what is proposed.
For the minister, there is no urgency to “merge zones” (currently three zones, A, B, and C, whose vacation dates differ in winter and spring) for the moment. The former government spokesperson wants to concentrate on more pressing work. “I will obviously look at the report given to me and the proposal made to me. My priority today, when we talk about vacations, is how to ensure that students in difficulty who have a lot of behind in French and mathematics can do successful courses, perhaps return to school earlier than the others”, he added in the show “The Kindergarten House” on France 2.
A commission is working on the subject
A commission on the school calendar, bringing together teaching unions, parents’ associations and local authorities, set up in the spring at the initiative of the parents’ federation FCPE, is currently working on this subject. Note that the majority of its members would be in favor of two zones instead of three, report The echoes. This new system would allow an alternation between seven weeks of classes and two weeks of vacation. A pace encouraged by specialists as part of the child’s well-being.
“The question is the well-being of the student and their pace of work,” assured Laurent Zameczkowski, spokesperson for the PEEP parents’ federation. “With the sliding system of the three zones, particularly for the February and Easter holidays, we find ourselves with gaps. Sometimes there are only five weeks between two holiday periods, and sometimes there are up to eleven weeks, which is a concern. To improve the system, “the trend is rather to go from three zones to two”, but the commission has “not yet ruled”, he added. This should submit conclusions to the minister “in February” after hearings carried out since September, in particular of tourism professionals, he said.
The elected officials divided
“The current system has drawbacks, the spring holidays are, for example, too late,” Jean-Luc Boch, president of the National Association of Mountain Resort Mayors (ANMSM), told AFP. “We no longer want the zones to overlap because it creates too much concentration. The idea would be to move to two zones that do not overlap.”
But not all elected officials share this opinion. Starting with Géraldine Leduc, general director of ANETT (National Association of Elected Officials of Tourist Territories): “For us, the school calendar works rather well”. According to her, “the move to two zones risks accentuating the seasonality from which tourism suffers”.
The representative of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), Antoine Jouenne, confirms that elected officials are “divided” on the subject. “The priority is the rhythm of the children and the current calendar does not seem suitable,” he admits. The AMF is “favorable to an improvement in the school calendar which does not put in difficulty the economic sectors of commerce and tourism already impacted by the crises”, he continues. This could involve, according to him, a “change in the volume or frequency of holidays”, for example by reducing summer holidays.
Tourism professionals worried
As for the tourism sector, the discourse is more tense. Professionals warn of the risk of overcrowding. They lean towards the status quo. “If two zones were to overlap, there would only be a strong concentration over three weeks instead of four. Which would have much more harmful effects, because there would be more influence per week,” emphasizes LCI Alexandre Maulin, president of Domaines skiables de France.
The debate recalls the question of summer vacations. “There are too many holidays,” Emmanuel Macron said last summer. “Students […] who need it, we must be able to bring them back from August 20 to allow them to catch up.”