Italy discusses extending holidays until October

“With this humidity, it is absurd to start school in mid-September,” explained Marcelo Pacifico, president of the Anif teachers’ union. “We need common sense and foresight: the production system must also change in the face of climate change.” Another teachers’ association, the Coordination of Teachers for Human Rights, sent a letter to the Pediatricians’ Union asking for scientific advice to determine whether the start of the 2024/2025 school year should be postponed in light of the rising temperatures.

At the same time, the association called on Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara to study the possibility of changing the school calendar “in order to avoid possible illnesses, given the high temperatures, both among students with health problems and among teachers, whose average age, according to statistics, is often high.” “We believe it is necessary to return to this issue in order to find appropriate and timely solutions,” wrote the association’s president, Romano Pesavento.

In contrast, several parents' associations point out that the three-month closure of schools from the beginning of June to the beginning of September is too long. “The high costs of childcare in the summer are passed on entirely to families. No parent gets three months' leave. The difficulties of balancing work and family are simply too great for those with children,” they said in a petition from parents. It has already collected 60,000 signatures.

“Long vacations increase inequality, promote the loss of cognitive and relational skills among girls, boys and adolescents, and make it difficult for many parents to combine work and family,” the petition said.