One of the important education agendas of the past week was the Minister of National Education Mr. Yusuf Tekin's statement on the issue of interim vacations: “When we say we are going to abolish interim vacations, children and young people understand it as if they will be added to school. What we will do is this, if we do, we will postpone the opening of schools in September. Again, schools will continue for 180 working days, again our teachers will take a two-month vacation.”.
Interim vacations were announced by the former Minister of National Education Mr. Ziya Selçuk on May 15, 2019 within the framework of the “New Education and Training Work Calendar Model” and in line with the 2023 Education Vision, starting from the 2019-2020 academic year, one week of vocational work, which was implemented as two weeks in September and June, was moved to November and April, and education and training was started to be implemented in two-month periods, with students taking a vacation and teachers doing professional work.
When the findings of the research conducted by Ender KAZAK0F and Serap TEZEL with the title “Interim Vacations: Advantage or Disadvantage? Qualitative Analysis of Student and Teacher Opinions” on interim vacations are examined, it is seen that the interim vacation practice provides great advantages for students, teachers and school administration. But of course, it has also been seen that this practice has disadvantages.
The advantages of midterm breaks for students are that they provide an opportunity to rest, relax and breathe after a busy exam week. This finding reveals that midterm breaks provide students with the opportunity to relieve the fatigue caused by homework and exams and give students the opportunity to rest; students come back to school vigorously, return to school mentally and physically rested, excited and eager; students relieve their exam stress and return to school more energetically.
In terms of disadvantages, one of the most emphasized issues is the problems of adapting to school after the break. Some students and teachers stated that taking a break just at the beginning of a new semester and having established a certain system caused disengagement from school and adaptation problems in returning to school after the break.
Students whose parents do not work during the mid-term vacation periods have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with their families and take part in many social, cultural and physical activities with family participation. Many children whose parents work and who are too young to stay at home had to go to work with one of their family members and perhaps did not even have the opportunity to rest and relax sufficiently. In this sense, it has been determined that it is an opportunity for parents who can make use of the midterm vacation, who do not work and who can spend time with their children, but for working families, it causes problems such as finding a caregiver, taking leave, leaving them alone at home, and therefore it is seen negatively.
It has been observed that mid-term breaks provide teachers with advantages such as rest, relaxation, breathing, spending time with family and friends, socializing, finding time for post-exam work and procedures, and eliminating their deficiencies. In addition, teachers return to school refreshed and happy.
As a result, it is seen that the interim vacation practice, which started to be implemented in 2019 within the scope of the 2023 Education Vision, has many advantages such as allowing students and teachers to rest and relax, allowing them to spend time with family and friends, providing an opportunity for students to make up for their subject deficiencies, providing motivation and allowing them to return to school fresh and happy, and many students and teachers are satisfied with this practice. This result will be confirmed by a survey among teachers and students.
However, it will be understood from the statements made that Mr. Yusuf Tekin will listen to the demands of working parents rather than teachers, students and educational administrators. This situation is not understandable for us.