Educators Want Change in Academic Calendar

Members of the High Education Council want parliament to allow provinces that are usually forced to close schools as a result of bad weather conditions to introduce winter breaks.

Whereas the law says students must attend school for at least 185 days, the upcoming academic year (starts September 23) only has 174 days due to the high number of public holidays.

Iran follows two different calendars, the solar (Persian) and the lunar (Hijri). Because the lunar, or Islamic, calendar has 354 days, it keeps shifting forward by a few days on the Iranian calendar, and because many of Iranian holidays are based on the Islamic calendar, total number of school days varies from year to year.  

While Iran has the highest number of school holidays in the world, in some provinces with extreme winters, namely the northwestern provinces of Ardebil, East Azarbaijan, and West Azarbaijan, schools often close for several days due to freezing weather.

The situation is almost similar in industrial cities during cold seasons, when the phenomenon known as temperature inversion traps pollutants within the confines of a city, leading to the formation of toxic smog.

“So far, several scenarios have been proposed by experts at the Education Ministry to solve the problem,” Mahdi Navid Adham, head of the council, said at the weekend, ISNA reported.

“In the first scenario, which has been sent to the Majlis, we asked for flexible opening and closing dates for the academic calendar (September 23-May 21), so that the  ministry can accordingly adjust and regulate the number of school days,” he said, adding that the bill was rejected two weeks ago by lawmakers.

He pointed to another scenario whereby winter breaks will be considered for provinces that have a high number of irregular school closures in colder months.

“The proposal is under review by lawmakers,” Adham said, expressing hope that it will be approved.

Last year, Ahmad Abedini, a deputy at the council, said the academic calendar should not be identical for all provinces.

“While the number of teaching hours must be the same, the month when the school year ends as well as the summer break can vary,” he said.

When the academic calendar is planned, weather conditions in each part of the country should be considered a key factor in determining days on which classes can/will be temporarily suspended, he maintained.

Iran is a vast country with varied climate: wet and mild on the Caspian Sea coast, continental and arid in the plateau, cold in high mountains, desert and hot in the southern coast and the southeast.

 School Holidays

The number of school holidays is 100 days in the UK, 90 in Germany and Canada, and 80 in Japan; Turkey with 120 days of public holidays also has long periods of school closure. The figure varies from 70 days to 125 days in other countries and the longest break in the school year is mostly during summer.

In Iran the summer break is 90 days. In addition, all schools are closed for 13 days during Norouz, the Iranian New Year, which usually starts on March 21 (vernal equinox) or the previous/following day, and is celebrated on a grand scale.

The first academic calendar was developed in the country in 1928, by which schools were mandated to enroll students between September 5 and October 6, and the school year began on October 7.

The academic calendar changed 13 times since then until 1995, when the first day of autumn (September 23) was determined as the first day of the school.