Why does Ho Chi Minh City give students less Tet holiday than last year?

Students at all levels in Ho Chi Minh City will have a total of 9 days off for the 2025 Lunar New Year, 7 days less than last year.

Students of Tan Son Nhi Primary School, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: NHU HUNG

According to the 2024-2025 school year plan of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, students at all levels in the area will have a total of 9 days off for the 2025 Lunar New Year. Specifically: students will have Tet holiday from January 25 to February 2, 2025 (ie December 26 to January 5).

Meanwhile, for Lunar New Year 2024, students of all levels in Ho Chi Minh City will have a total of 16 days off.

According to an official from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, in previous years, students in Ho Chi Minh City had a long Tet holiday because the holiday started on Monday, or sometimes the 6th day of Tet fell in the middle of the week. Since then, the department has combined weekends to advise the City People's Committee to extend the Tet holiday for students from 14 to 16 days.

"However, this year the Tet holiday starts on Saturday, and the 6th day of Tet falls on Monday. If we give students another week off, there won't be enough time to plan the rest of the school year.

Specifically, from September 5, 2024 to May 31, 2025, there are 38 weeks. Of which, schools must ensure 35 weeks of actual teaching according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. The remaining 3 weeks include 1 week of Lunar New Year holiday; 2 weeks are both a reserve for other activities and holidays such as Hung King's death anniversary, New Year's holiday, April 30 holiday," said a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.

Parents are worried because the Tet holiday is too short.

On October 30, Tuoi Tre Online received feedback from many parents whose children are studying at primary, secondary and high schools in Ho Chi Minh City. The parents said that this year, Ho Chi Minh City gave students a very short Tet holiday, making it difficult for them to plan for their children to visit their hometowns.

"In previous years, when students had 14-16 days off for Tet, our children also finished their second semester final exams before April 30, not later. Every year, we can only take our children to visit their grandparents once during Tet.

This year, students had to go back to school on the 6th day of Tet. So, on the 5th day, we had to take our children back to Ho Chi Minh City. The children have very little time to play with their grandparents, and at this time, plane tickets are very expensive, and train tickets are difficult to buy;..." - Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, a parent in Binh Tan district, expressed.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tai-sao-tp-hcm-cho-hoc-sinh-nghi-tet-nguyen-dan-it-hon-nam-truoc-20241030151645634.htm