The year-end school holidays start tomorrow for all schoolchildren throughout Malaysia. You can expect the roads to be smoother (less people sending/fetching their children, while a lucky few go off on holidays), hotels and tourist attractions to be jam-packed, wedding invitations galore almost every weekend, staff taking leave to go on a holiday with their family and/or send their children to their kampung and/or fetch their children from boarding school, and all sorts of activities, workshops, tuition packages and camps for children and teenagers advertised in magazines and newspapers.
For me, school holidays means less stress in the morning (no more early morning struggle with sleepyheads), no more issues about missing school shoes, no more last-minute searches for school supplies that somehow need to be replenished almost every week. But it also means having to find more productive activities for the kids other than the usual TV and internet fare, having to stock up on more food in the fridge and the pantry… and having to deal with an overflowing laundry hamper almost everyday!
I’ve been in Malaysia since 1993 but I still have difficulty remembering when the school holidays fall. In the Philippines, schoolchildren only had Christmas/New Year break and their summer vacation. In Malaysia, on the other hand, there’s the first term break in March, the second term break in early June, the third term break in August, and the year-end break from mid-November to end-December or the first few days of January. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the school term starts in January here for primary and secondary schools.
If I’m not mistaken, universities and colleges (they’re not created equal in Malaysia!) follow a different schedule. Perhaps I’ll learn how it works once MyEldest gets to that level ;) But for now, I continue to faithfully key in the dates of the school holidays into my PDA so that I don’t forget them! It’s also useful for planning trips in advance whenever there are travel fairs or when some airlines have a promotion on fares.
| School Holiday 2009 |
From |
To |
| 1st Term Break |
14-Mar-09 |
22-Mar-09 |
| 2nd Term Break |
30-May-09 |
14-Jun-09 |
| 3rd Term Break |
22-Aug-09 |
30-Aug-09 |
| End of Year Break |
21-Nov-09 |
03-Jan-10 |
*In Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu Term Break commerces a day earlier.
For a more detailed calendar by state (yes, Virginia, holidays vary slightly from one state to another), please refer to the Malaysian Minister of Education’s website.
If you plan to be anywhere in Malaysia during the school holidays, book your hotels in advance to avoid getting disappointed, as most hotels will be fully booked by then. And expect higher rates during those times, as they’re considered peak season.
