For the Easter holidays, the holidays extend from April 6 to May 5 in the three zones. However, some French people will not be able to go on vacation during this period!
School holidays are already coming back very soon. This time, students will have two weeks off for Easter, but staggered depending on their zone. Zone C will go on vacation first, from April 6 and until April 21 inclusive. It will be juxtaposed with zone A from April 13 to 28. Zone B will end its vacation last between April 20 and May 5.
Until then, everything is as usual, and yet, some departments stand out and will not have one of these three vacation periods. They will have to wait a little longer to be on leave. The students concerned will have to wait until April 27 to start their vacation and these will be extended until May 12. This shift does not really present any particular advantage. The first week, they will be on vacation at the same time as zone B and the second, they have little chance of being alone since it contains two public holidays (May 8 and 9) which they will therefore not take advantage of, just like May 1st. They will have to wait until May 20, Pentecost Monday, to benefit from a public holiday.
These students are those from two particular departments which together constitute an academic region: Corsica, with Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse. Corsica has around 339,178 inhabitants, according to INSEE in 2019, including around 48,000 students. Obviously, all families who want to leave with their children also find themselves impacted by these postponed dates. In fact, INSEE has just over 60,000 households with children in Corsica, who are therefore directly concerned.
Corsica determines its own holiday dates each year which are then subject to validation by its community. On previous holidays, it had aligned with the last zone. On the other hand, the start of the school year took place in September, a day later than on the continent.
This gap is also perceptible in the overseas departments. Mayotte has the same holidays as Corsica during this period. In Martinique, it is the opposite as in Corsica, the spring holidays take place earlier, from March 23 and therefore include the Easter weekend. Guadeloupe comes into position the following week, March 28, therefore still before mainland France. The two overseas departments will then benefit from the long bridge of ascension from May 8 to 12. In Reunion, the holidays are later, they take place in March then in May (4 to 21). For its part, Guyana only has one week until Easter.