Parents have two separate but equally important duties in life:

1) Taking care of their kids

2) Complaining

Show me a parent who hasn’t complained about something school-related and I’ll show you a penguin that can fly.

To be fair, it’s not like all their complaints are irrational; many parents have legitimate concerns about their child’s education and rightfully make enquiries about certain issues.

Like when their child has too much homework. Why are we stressing our little ones out with mounds and mounds of homework?

Or when their teacher physically abuses their child. How could she hit my child? She needs to be fired!

Or when their child has too long a holiday. How dare they let my child rest for so lon- wait what?

Parent Complained That Dec Holidays Are Too Long 

When The Straits Times published a forum letter last month asserting that the December school holidays are too long, people were mighty confused.

In the letter, the parent said that children shouldn’t have such a long holiday in December because her children and many of her friends’ children are “very restless” during that period.

The letter confused and angered many Singaporeans, who said that students and teachers needed the long break to rest.

Rest & Recharge

The Ministry of Education (MOE) later responded in a separate article on The Straits Times, and it wasn’t just them repeating “Everything also got problem” several times.

An MOE representative said that they have deliberately planned and distributed holidays in a particular manner.

The spokesperson explained that longer breaks give students and teachers more time to “rest and recharge”.

Yes, surely having more time and being a little restless is better than having no downtime at all and getting stressed out?

Another reason for the long holiday is that schools can also hold supplementary lessons or programmes like camps and overseas exchange trips during this period.

An anonymous primary school teacher added that the long December holiday offers students more than just a chance to rest.

The teacher said that students can “find ways to engage and entertain themselves” during this period, which can enhance their creativity and combat any restlessness they might have.

It’s great for teachers, too, she argues, as they have time to think about how to improve their teaching methods.

More time for national exam prep

One proposed solution of the parent in the forum letter is that MOE “transfer two weeks of school holidays in December to the March and September holidays”.

However, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Zainal Sapari, who was a former teacher and principal, said that this move would give students less curriculum time to prepare for the year-end N- and O-Level examinations.

This makes sense. Students work hard all year preparing for their end-of-year examinations, that’s why they’re given a long break to rest and prepare for the next school year.

As a former kid myself, I believe I speak for other kids when I say, the longer the holiday, the better.