When it comes to the summer holidays, Bayern wants to stay last. And Prime Minister Markus Söder does not talk about that. Find a compromise with the other federal states in the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK)? No way.
"The Bavarian Abitur remains Bavarian, by the way, just as the holidays remain," Söder had said on the weekend. This aside, after the excitement about leaving Bavaria from the Education Council, before it was started, initially something went down. With a little delay the indignation flared up now.
"This shot will backfire," it said on Wednesday from Hamburg. The fact that Bavaria, like Baden-Württemberg, has been claiming a special position for decades during summer vacations, has long ceased to suit other federal states. Hamburg, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia had just made a start to reorganize the complex holiday calendar.
The background: Germany's schools do not say goodbye all at the same time in the break as in many other countries, but with a time delay. Which federal state makes summer holidays, decides the KMK in coordination with the state governments. Planning takes place several years in advance, according to certain rules and a rolling system:
- The 16 federal states are divided into five groups. They are often geographically close to each other and, among other things, economically linked.
- All countries in a group have summer vacations at the same time, for about six weeks.
- For example, in a year's time, Group II will be the first to start the summer holidays, with another one starting next year.
- Only Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are an exception. For them the last summer vacation date is reserved. Traditionally, the long holidays always begin at the end of July / beginning of August.
According to this Regularium, the holiday dates are still fixed until the year 2024. However, since October, the federal states are negotiating over the years 2025 to 2030. Hamburg and others are making a strong case, not to stretch the days off so much in time. In general, the summer holidays should not start before July 1st. The different dates of the countries should be closer together and the annual shifts should be as small as possible.
The benefits of the late vacation
The fact that Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg always claim their last holiday and thus get away with it provokes discontent in the rest of the republic. Some find, for example, unfair that families from the south partly benefit from the lower season prices when traveling but not yourself. This applies to the longer Pentecost holidays as well as the holidays in August and September.
Those who start their summer holidays in June often complain that the period between Christmas and summer holidays is comparatively short. In school, the dates for class work, which can be stressful for students and teachers. A disadvantage that Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg do not have.
The two federal states want to keep their bonus and argue, among other things, with their traditionally longer Whitsun holidays. The summer holidays should not connect directly - and therefore start later. North Rhine-Westphalia wants to dispute this point for the South - and also be last time.
For the first time in decades, there was a long Whitsun holiday in NRW in 2018, to the delight of many parents, teachers and pupils. School minister Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) would like to make a standard rule from this - and therefore insisted even in the summer, there must be "new regulations".
Negotiating various interests
There are two main reasons why the summer holidays in Germany begin at a different rate:
- You want to avoid crowded trains and highways. Associations such as the General German Automobile Club (ADAC) warn of even worse traffic jams in the summer months, when several families travel at the same time. The staggered holiday start should equalize the problem.
To Söders refusal of a new regulation of the holidays, Hamburg's school senator Ties Rabe (SPD) in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" therefore smugly to: "Now every country just like Bayern set the summer holidays alone. Have fun on the long Bavarian highways."
- It is also about economic interests. The tourism industry wants to prolong the "holiday corridor" in the summer as much as possible, because it's better for the holiday business. Lobbyists of the tourism industry haggle with the KMK sometimes for single days.
The new push for the holiday rules therefore calls on tourism-strong countries such as Schleswig-Holstein: "A too narrow holiday corridor in the whole of Germany could have a negative impact on tourism, which is so important for our country, if the season would be significantly shorter," said one Spokesman for the Ministry of Education in Kiel in October.
For the KMK, however, according to own statements, "organizational and pedagogical criteria" are decisive in the planning of the holiday, for example: School years should be about the same length, as well as half-years, with regard, among other things, to certificates. It should also give a meaningful rhythm of lessons and rest / time out. On the basis of the summer holidays, the federal states may then plan their "little holidays", for example at Easter or Christmas.
Holiday Calendar 2019/20
You can use the buttons to jump to a holiday season. You can also select a state in the first column. All holiday entries in the calendar can also be selected to display the details.
Source: Ministries of Education of the federal states
* Note for Schleswig-Holstein: On the islands of Sylt, Föhr, Amrum and Heligoland as well as on the Halligen the summer holidays end one calendar week earlier and the autumn holidays start one week earlier.