Why are School Holidays not at the Same Time throughout Germany?
Some people have asked me why school holidays in Germany were not at the same time everywhere.
The reason for this is the federalism we have in Germany. While nations like France have a centralised system *, Germany is based upon the single member states (like Saarland, North Rhine-Westphalia and 14 others). The member states then pass some fields of authority to the whole nation, in my case the Federal Republic of Germany.
However, school system in Germany is part of the member states' authority. This means each state is able to set holidays on its own. Sometimes the states also negotiate about the holidays to avoid major traffic jams (especially in summer holidays). Yet, there are already traffic jams when holidays start only in some regions at the same time.
* however, they have three zones for different school holidays
Friday, October 23, 2009
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