By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Parents usually like to spend as much time with their children as possible, but a recent schoolmasters' decision to introduce mid-semester ``mini vacations'' is drawing resistance from many mothers.
Starting this year, schoolmasters at primary and secondary schools will be able to set four-to-five day mini vacations during semesters to provide families with an opportunity to spend ``quality time'' with each other.
It seems that May will be the test bed for the system since many schools are determined to overlap the vacation with Children's Day (May 5), Parent's Day (May 8) and Buddha's Birthday (May 12). More than 85 percent of schools in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province plan to adopt the arrangement.
``It will be a good chance for children to be with their family through Children's Day and Parent's Day. They could go on vacation or do something else together,'' an elementary school headmaster in Gangnam, southern Seoul, told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.
He said the decision shows that Korean education is moving toward respecting family values as Western cultures have been doing for decades.
``Nowadays we consider mid-semester family trips as `presents' if parents inform us in advance. We now believe education can also take place outside the classroom not, in this case with teachers, but with parents,'' he said.
In fact, travel agencies are busy with families booking trips abroad and local festival spokesmen said they expect double or triple the number of visitors this year. Many people said family leisure would become a new trend.
However, some parents showed concern. ``If parents cannot take time off work during the vacation, it could make things difficult,'' worried mother Bae Ji-won said.
Housewives also expressed concern. Lee Ju-young, a mother of two, said children always expect something ``interesting'' for the occasion.
She said her children talked about their friends' travels abroad. ``I cannot afford these trips and if this so-called mini vacation is meant for something like that, it's unfair,'' she said.
``It will clearly show who has the money and time to spend with children and who does not,'' she added, saying a vacation may not always be welcomed.
Some parents oppose the plan for other reasons. They said if students get to take time off too often, their academic performance could suffer. ``I think studying is about consistency. If they take time off from studying, they may have a difficult time getting back into the study routine,'' a concerned mother said.
Some experts said financially underprivileged children, who receive free meals at schools, will not be able to get them once the schools go on a break. Civic group Parents for True Education said the education authority's policy goes contrary to welfare in certain ways.
However, the government is still deliberating. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said implementing vacations is totally up to the headmaster. ``And the number of mandatory classes stays the same, meaning the more mini vacations a school takes, the shorter regular summer or winter vacations will be,'' an office spokesman said.