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.