Cabinet could synchronise May school holidays nationwide

State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education is investigating the possibility of synchronizing May school holidays nation wide. He wants a fixed, 14 day May holiday that happens in the same two weeks for all schools in the Netherlands. According to him, many parents complain about the chaos surrounding the May holidays, which makes it difficult to arrange care for their children and going on vacation. Currently the Ministry of Education has fixed times for only the first week of the holiday, usually the first week of May. The schools themselves can chose when the second week of holidays will be taken, either the last week of April or the second week of May. "Many parents complain about this, because they would like to go away on vacation for two weeks, but each school treats this differently", Dekker said in an interview with newspaper AD. "This is a disaster for parents who, for example, have kids at both primary and high school." The Ministry is now investigating what effects such a synchronized two week holiday will have. Economic interests, national days May 4th and 5th and the planning for the final exams are all being taken into account. Dekker wants to have this issue resolved by the end of this school year. The holidays for the 2016-2017 school year have already been scheduled, but can still be adjusted.