Long Holiday for Schools and Madrasas Ends Today as Classrooms Come Back to Life

The long holiday for schools and madrasas across the country ends today. As this break comes to a close, educational institutions are preparing to resume regular teaching, and the daily routines of students, teachers and parents are returning to their usual rhythm.

A long holiday means time away from the study table for students, days spent with family and a chance to organise their time in their own way. With that break now ending, households everywhere are getting ready, mentally and practically, for the return to school bags and morning journeys.

For parents, the end of the holiday brings both relief and busyness. The relief is that their children's studies will return to a regular structure, while the busyness comes from rearranging travel, tiffins, books and exercise books, and bedtime routines all over again.

The return is important for teachers as well. Their first task now is to pick up lessons from where they stopped before the holiday, organise the unfinished chapters, and bring students' attention back into the classroom.

In the first few days after a long break, students commonly show a certain slowness. Changed sleep times, a break in study habits and the time needed to move out of a mood of play and leisure are all considered natural by those involved in education.

Because the holiday is ending at the same time for both schools and madrasas — the two streams of institutions — this return is large in terms of student numbers. Its effect may therefore be felt in many places, from morning road traffic to pressure on public transport.

Especially in urban areas, heavier morning traffic congestion on days when institutions reopen is not a new experience. Many parents therefore plan to set out a little earlier with their children so that they can reach their institutions on time.

For some students the news that the holiday is ending is joyful, and for others it brings a little sadness. But seeing friends again, the buzz of the classroom and returning to regular activities go a long way towards lifting that sadness.

As this report was written, no detailed information was available about post-holiday teaching schedules or any special instructions. Activities are expected to be conducted according to each institution's own rules.

All in all, today is a day of transition for hundreds of thousands of students in the country — a day to leave the leisure of the holiday behind and return to the world of regular study. The expectation everywhere is that classrooms will soon be lively again.