School. In Emilia-Romagna lessons will resume on Monday 16 September 2024, to end on Friday 6 June 2025 – The regional council has approved the calendar for the 2024-2025 school year, which concerns elementary and middle schools (first cycle of education), high schools and IeFP (second cycle of the education and training system). Nursery schools (3-6 years) will be able to bring forward the start date and delay the end of educational activities, in agreement with the municipality to which they belong. The return-to-school bell will ring on the morning of Monday 16 September for the over five hundred thousand students of Emilia-Romagna, while the last day of lessons will be 6 June 2025.
The green light for the 2024-2025 school year calendar came from the Regional Council and concerns both the classes of the first cycle of education (elementary and middle school) and those of the second cycle of the education system (higher school) and training (IeFP) . Lessons will be suspended on the occasion of the commemoration of the deceased, 2 November 2024, the Christmas holidays from 24 December 2024 to 6 January 2025 and the Easter holidays from 17 to 22 April 2025.
The 2024-2025 school calendar is established by the Regional Council in implementation of the provisions of its resolution 353 of 2012, shared with the Institutional Coordination Committee which is the seat of partnership and institutional collaboration between the Region, Provinces and Municipalities, regarding the policies for education, training and work. The resolution always identifies September 15th as the start date of lessons, unless it falls on a Saturday or Sunday like this year: in which case it is postponed to the first following working day. The same resolution, applied for 13 years, provides that each school year ends on 6 June, with the possibility – if the date falls on a Saturday or Sunday – of bringing the closing forward to the working day preceding the holiday or postponing it, if necessary, to guarantee the threshold of 205 days of teaching activities.
National legislation, in fact, establishes that the school year must include no less than 200 days of teaching activity, as well as a significant number of days for carrying out further teaching and educational programmes. Within the scope of its competences, the Emilia-Romagna Region has set the period for didactic and educational interventions at five additional days: the total days are therefore 205. The school authorities will also be able to divide the additional days in terms of hours, quantified in flat rate measure of 30. Without prejudice to the start and end dates of lessons, educational institutions can adapt the calendar according to the specific needs envisaged in their educational offer plan.
Also confirmed is the right for nursery schools (3-6 years) to bring forward the start date and postpone the end date of educational activities, in the manner and within the limits established by the Region’s resolution: the choice must be in line with the purposes of the educational offer plan and the decisions of the collegial bodies of the school concerned and requires agreement with the municipality to which it belongs. (Carmine Caputo)
