Czech Education Minister suggests debating whether two-month summer holidays still make sense

Czech Education Minister Robert Plaga (ANO) has raised a question on social media about whether the traditional two-month summer break in July and August still makes sense today, or whether school holidays should be spread out differently across the school year. His post sparked a wave of criticism and a lively debate among school principals, teachers and parents.

Many social media users criticised the minister, pointing out that classrooms are already sweltering in June and September due to climate change — a phenomenon denied by Motoristé, ANO's coalition partner. In response, Plaga said he wasn't proposing any specific plan, but simply wanted to open a discussion on whether a century-old rule still holds up today. "Everything has changed since then — school, work, lifestyle, climate. This isn't about a plan, but it's entirely reasonable to discuss not just modernising the curriculum, but also a smarter distribution of school holidays," the minister explained.

School principals: there are more pressing issues

Jiří Ptáčník, head of a school in Zelenč near Prague, believes the timing of summer holidays isn't really the issue that needs solving: "From mid-June until September, classrooms turn into ovens, and we try to get the kids outside as much as we can." Jan Mareš, head of the National Pedagogical Institute, shares a similar view: he says summer holidays aren't poorly designed as such, but changing them would require a complete overhaul of the school year — something that can't happen overnight.

František Dobšík, chairman of the education workers' trade union, called the minister's post a summer stunt aimed at grabbing attention. Jiří Nekuda, head of the Czech Union of School Associations, admitted the topic caught him off guard — in his view, a more pressing discussion would be the awkward staggering of spring half-term breaks across six weeks by region.

What experts and parents think

Karel Gargulák, an education policy analyst at PAQ Research, took the opposite view, backing the minister and noting that two months off really is a long stretch, during which children fall out of their learning rhythm and familiar routines — especially if their home environment isn't stable. He said this is borne out by research.

František Rada, head of a Prague school on Strossmayerovo náměstí, also favours spreading holidays more evenly across the year and shortening the summer break, but stresses the need for a systemic solution to overheating classrooms — for example, subsidies for solar window films.

Angelika Hergelová, a representative of the Union of Parents, believes the minister is simply testing public reaction. She says that for working parents with young children, extending the summer holidays would create real problems, whereas a more even spread of breaks throughout the school year would be welcomed — the union receives plenty of such requests. However, she notes there have been no calls to shorten the summer holidays.

A century-old tradition and the European experience

The unified July–August summer holiday in Czechia was established a hundred years ago, in 1925. Before that, regions set their own holiday dates depending on when the harvest ripened and children were needed to help their parents in the fields — under Maria Theresa, holiday lengths differed between town and country children.

According to the European statistical service Eurydice, 15 European countries, including Czechia, start the school year on 1 September. The length of summer holidays varies widely: in Denmark, the Netherlands and parts of Germany and Switzerland, summer is shorter — around six weeks — but breaks are longer in autumn, winter and spring. In Italy, Malta and Latvia, children get up to 13 weeks or more off in summer, linked to intense heat. With nine weeks of summer holidays, Czechia sits roughly in the middle of the European average.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz