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School holiday criticism: Thuringia and Lower Saxony are calling for reform from 2030!
Thuringia's CDU criticizes Bavaria's school holiday regulations as outdated. Changes will be made in 2030 at the earliest to relieve pressure on tourism.
School holiday criticism: Thuringia and Lower Saxony are calling for reform from 2030!
The discourse about school holiday regulations in Germany is gaining more and more momentum, and the situation in Thuringia in particular is leading to heated debate. The CDU parliamentary group leader in Thuringia, Bühl, sees the current regulation as outdated and calls for a modern system that meets the needs of today. Loud Deutschlandfunk This opinion is also shared by representatives from Lower Saxony and Hamburg, which makes it clear that the need for reform is recognized far beyond the borders of Thuringia.
One reason for the criticism is the comment by some federal states that the previous justification that school children have to help with the harvest during the holidays is no longer appropriate. North Rhine-Westphalia has found clear words here and is questioning this long-held view. In contrast, Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder rejects any criticism. He emphasizes that the holiday rhythm in Bavaria has a firm foundation and changes will not be possible until 2030 at the earliest, as the holiday regulations have already been determined by then. This shows how strongly rooted the tradition is in these federal states.
Modern school holiday regulations in focus
The conflict over the holiday regulations is also reinforced by a rolling system for determining summer holiday dates, which aims to distribute holidaymakers evenly and avoid traffic chaos. There are a total of five defined country groups, which are determined by: Conference of Ministers of Education were defined:
- I: Brandenburg, Berlin, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein
- II: Bremen, Niedersachsen, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen
- III: Nordrhein-Westfalen
- IV: Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland
- V: Baden-Württemberg, Bayern
Group V, which includes Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, has the disadvantage that its summer holidays always have late dates in order to ensure sufficient time for learning and exams between Pentecost and summer holidays
A difficult balance
The discussion about holiday regulations becomes even more tense when the specific wishes of individual federal states are taken into account. Berlin and Hamburg in particular have clearly stated that their holidays should not begin until the beginning of July at the earliest, which once again illustrates the major differences between the countries. One of the starting points of the debate is the criticism of the supposed preference for Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, which are in a better tourist situation due to the late holidays.
The Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs has already decided on a regulation for the summer holidays from 2025 to 2030. This decision, based on the results of a country working group, reflects the need to take both the tourism industry and educational policy aspects into account. Nevertheless, the discussion about a fairer and more flexible system remains an issue that is by no means over. The Teacher News also notes that suggestions such as a less burdensome change principle were not taken into account by the GEW.