KUALA LUMPUR:The Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) has urged the Ministry of Education (MOE) to consider the second term school holidays to coincide with Aidiladha on July 31.
Its president Adnan Mat said this was to allow the public and civil servants especially those working elsewhere to celebrate the festivity in their hometowns.
“Most of them who are living away from their respective hometowns have done early planning based on the national school holidays.
“The amendment on the school calendar has certainly affected their planning and it would be a headache for them to replan their holidays especially when it involves the purchase of flight tickets”, he said in a statement yesterday.
He said that Cuepacs had received complaints from civil servants as well as employees in the private sector working in Sabah and Sarawak who had booked their flight tickets in advance and the same goes to the Sabahans and Sarawakians working in the peninsula.
Previously, the second-term school holidays were scheduled for nine days from July 24 until Aug 1 in Group A (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu) and July 25 to Aug 2 in Group B (Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya), coinciding with Aidiladha date on July 31.
However, the amendments saw the school holidays have been reduced from nine to five days and as a result, Aidiladha now falls on a normal school week.
Adnan has also proposed a special holiday and leave of absence for July 30 and August 3 respectively which would provide some relief to the public, civil servants and teachers who depended solely on the school break to go for holidays especially those with school-going children.
“Teachers are eligible for special annual leave however it would be difficult to obtain approval from their respective heads of department as the school is in session,” he said. – Bernama
