NoThere are no countries – other than Malta and Latvia – with a school summer break as long as Italy. A 14 week break designed for a rural country, when their children helped their farmer parents reap the wheat. Today it is no longer thinkable. WeWorld, which has been defending the rights of women and children in 27 countries for 50 years, and Mammadimerda they launch a petition to ask to change the school calendar and invite families to talk about their “full” summers to make politicians understand how much it costs – in time and money – to organize their children’s three-month holiday, and how inequalities are increasing.
The image of the petition from WeWorld and Mammadimerda to change the school calendar.
«We know that intervening on the school calendar is complex, because there are many elements at play», says Francesca Fiore, who founded Mammadimerda with Sarah Malnerich. «But it is necessary. First of all, these long 14 weeks of vacation can only be undertaken by those who can, those who send their children to sailing courses or summer school in England. Even a simple summer camp organized by an association in the city costs on average 200 euros per week. What if you have two children? If we talk about the birth rate, these problems should also be taken into account».
Those who don’t have the means leave their children parked in front of their cell phones. AND the consequences are paid by the most vulnerable: «We are now talking about summer learning loss, or the loss of learning in the summer», continues Francesca Fiore. However, taking shorter holidays does not mean lengthening the school days: «We don’t want to go beyond the 200 scheduled in the calendar, which is already a lot. A different modulation would be needed, with longer breaks during the year, and more relaxed times for learning that is of quality for everyone”.
WeWorld and Mammadimerda: «More full time and canteens»
Naturally, there is no shortage of criticism of this proposal: «The most frequent is that teachers are not babysitters, it is not up to them to supervise the children. But we we don’t ask for lessons to be held in the summer. Let’s think about agreements with the Third Sector for extracurricular activities, which should be free. Someone objects: you had children, now you have to manage them. An absurd and punitive vision of motherhood which also contributes to the birth rate decline. School is not a parking lot but a place where children learn to grow up and integrate into society».
The petition is also an opportunity to ask for a deeper change in the school system: «starting from construction, to continue with the cafeteria service: today 6 out of 10 children in primary school do not benefit from it, in the South even 8. The other big step needed would be to make it compulsory for schools – obviously not for families – to offer the possibility of full time, who today have less than 4 out of 10 childrenhere too with large differences between North and South. To all this we should add new measures for work-life conciliation, because today women are penalized by the burden of care and domestic work.”
In short, there is a lot to do. What is clear is that a nineteenth-century modulation of the school calendar no longer makes sense. It penalizes children first of all, starting with the most fragile, and then families, especially women. School is a priority for those who care about the future of the country.
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