AFTER the pandemic kept thousands of children out of school for nearly a year and severely disrupted their learning, the question being is raised should summer holidays be cut to four weeks so children can play catch up.

We asked T&A readers what they thought about this and whether children need six weeks for summer or should their education come first.

One reader said: “I’d prefer the summer holidays to be 4 weeks and two of the half terms breaks to be two weeks. Nothing to do with covid (I think the kids will catch up naturally over time) I just think 6 weeks is too long and would be better to give them a longer break at other points in the year.”

Many parents were in two minds, while they cherished the family time that the six’s holidays brought, some found that it was too long, and others struggled with working full time and arranging childcare.

Another reader said: “It costs parents a lot of money as they have to work, so childcare and holiday clubs are their only options.”

Parents who worked as teachers, raised the other side of the argument, that they need a chance to reset before the new school term, highlighting the amount of work and planning that has to be done.

A reader commented on behalf of his wife: “My wife is a teacher and works enough evenings and weekends without pay, which has an impact on family life. Not to have a reset for a few weeks. For those who think teachers have a long summer break, forget it, they plan and prepare lessons all summer.”

As schools become more competitive and children are pushed to mature at a younger age, many parents felt that the long summer break was much needed, to let children be children.

One parent said: “No definitely not. Let kids have time out to be kids. I enjoy mine being at home.”

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