Mineduc releases 2014 Academic calendar

With schools set to resume from the long holiday on January 6, 2014, the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) has released this year’s academic calendar that is to be followed by both primary and secondary schools throughout the country. The calendar clearly details the scheduled duration of each school term and also the holidays in between. This year’s first term will be a week longer than in the previous year and runs from January 6 to March 4, 2014. A three week break will follow before the second term commences on the March 28 until July 25. As has always been the case, the second term holidays will run for a mere two weeks, enough for the students to take a break before resuming the final term of the year which will be a week longer than it has previously been with 11 weeks.Third term begins on August 28 and runs until October 24, to make room for candidates’ final exams. Final exams for P6 candidates will take the usual three days while secondary school students will he senior six candidates’ exams will take two weeks from the usual 10 days.Notable changes in this year’s time table is the increase in the duration of the terms with the second term increased from 10 weeks to 13 weeks and the third term increased from 10 weeks to 11 weeks. However the time for the holidays has remained the same even with the alterations on the school terms. The Education Ministry also released a detailed transport plan for students reporting to school. Boarding school students of schools in the Southern and Western provinces are expected to report to school on January 4, 2014 while those from the Eastern and Northern provinces should report to school on January 5, 2014. Students travelling to school should be dressed in full school uniform and should carry their students’ identity card. They should also endeavour to travel early and not wait for the evening when the number of passengers is very high. Transport companies are not allowed to hike transport fares and any driver who is found doing so will be dealt with by the traffic police as the law dictates. Students who fail to adhere to the ministry directive on the dates of reporting to school should be escorted by a parent to explain why they failed to report on time.