No month-long school holiday during upcoming Ramadhan

No month-long school holiday during upcoming Ramadhan

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Most state and private schools here will not be giving students a
one-month holiday during Ramadhan, although government
regulations allow them to do so.

State high school SMU 3 in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, will give
its students a day off one day before and after the first day of
Ramadhan, which is expected to fall on Nov.6. To celebrate Idul
Fitri, students will be off from Nov. 29 to Dec. 14.

School deputy principal KM Yusuf told The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday he was worried that too many holidays would make the
students lazy.

The academic calendar issued by the Ministry of National
Education requires all state schools to declare a holiday one day
before and after the first day of Ramadhan, and from Nov. 29 to
Dec. 14. Schools have the freedom to decide for themselves how
they will manage the other days during Ramadhan.

According to the calendar, there are 260 school days in the
2002 to 2003 academic year.

Yusuf said his school would organize a religious program for
the new students, from Nov. 9 to Nov. 11.

During the fasting month, the school would start 30 minutes
later than usual, at 7.30 a.m. Each session, which usually lasts
45 minutes, would be shortened to 30 minutes.

A week after students return to school from the Idul Fitri
holiday, they would have to take the semester test, scheduled to
begin on Dec. 26 and last until Dec. 30.

Elementary school SDN Tanah Abang 1 in Central Jakarta also
decided to declare as holidays only the days specified by the
academic calendar issued by the ministry.

"We will spend more time on religious subjects with the
students," said Sulasmo, a teacher at the school.

The school day will start at 7.30 a.m. and end at midday,
compared with 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. normally.

Al Azhar Islamic junior high school in Kebayoran Baru, South
Jakarta, will be off from Nov. 5 to Nov. 9 and from Nov. 29 to
Dec. 14.

"We have decided to continue with lessons during the fasting
month because parents didn't want their children doing nothing,
while the students also feel bored with little to do during the
month," principal S.Imam Suwaji told the Post.

The school will provide students with more religious
activities, such as Koran reading.

Meanwhile, students at SMK St. Theresia, a vocational Catholic
tourism high school, have to work hard during the fasting month.
They will have a one-day holiday on the first day of Ramadhan,
and take semester tests during the period Nov. 18 to Nov. 30,
according to Theresia Seneng, a teacher. The students will have
Idul Fitri holidays from Dec. 2 to Dec. 8, and return to school
before the Christmas holiday from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2.

In 1978 former president Soeharto ruled that all schools
should not have a month-long holiday during Ramadhan. But in 1999
then president Abdurrahman Wahid required all state schools
across the country to have a holiday for the whole month of
Ramadhan.

However, the policy failed to win support from either schools
or parents.

"It was not effective. But now, the ministry has given schools
the freedom to schedule their educational programs in accordance
with their requirements," Yusuf said.