2014-15 school year schedule to shorten Hannuka, Passover vacations

According to new schedule, 2 vacation days to be deducted from Hannuka, Passover vacation.

By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZI
Students in classroom 311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Students in classroom 311
(photo credit: Reuters)
The Education Ministry announced next year’s school schedule on Sunday, with shortened vacations in the offing.
The new school year for kindergartens, elementary schools, secondary schools, and teacher training colleges will begin on Monday, September 1st, 2014. The academic year will begin five days later than the previous year, with one of the days falling on Shabbat, so the ministry decided to deduct four days from school vacations throughout the year.
According to the new schedule, two vacation days will be deducted from Hannuka vacation, which will include six days, as opposed to eight in previous years. Students will have their holiday break from the 18th to the 24th of December.
Passover vacation will also be shortened by two days from 17 vacation days to include a total of 15 days. Passover vacation will begin on March 29, 2015 and last until April 12.
There will be no vacation days to bridge between Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Traditionally, since the two holidays are only a few days apart, students have received extra days of vacation to bridge the two.
Next year, students will have two vacation days on the 3rd and 4th of October, with one of the days falling on Shabbat, and will resume classes on the 5th of the month. Students will then study for three days before leaving on Sukkot vacation, from the 8th to the 17th of October.
Lag Ba’Omer will include only one vacation day as opposed to two this year, and Shavuot will include two vacation days, one of which falls on Shabbat.
Primary schools and kindergartens will begin their summer vacation on July 1st, 2015 while secondary schools will begin their summer recess June 21.